- White-crowned Pigeon
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White-crowned Pigeon 
John James Audubon's colour print of the white-crowned pigeon Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae Genus: Patagioenas Species: P. leucocephala Binomial name Patagioenas leucocephala
(Linnaeus, 1758)Synonyms Columba leucocephala Linnaeus, 1758
The White-crowned Pigeon (Patagioenas leucocephala, formerly Columba leucocephala) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae (doves and pigeons).[2][3] It inhabits the northern and central Caribbean islands and some places on the North and Central American mainland. John James Audubon painted the pigeons, including the watercolour in his work Birds of America, published in the early 19th century.
A juvenile white-crowned pigeon, photographed in Louisville Zoo, Kentucky
It is 29 centimetres (11 in), has a wingspan of 48 centimetres (19 in), and weighs 0.15 kilograms (0.33 lb). The adult is dark grey, with green and white bars on the nape, a brilliant white crown to the head, a white iris, and a pale-tipped red bill. Juveniles are a less dark shade of grey, lack the nape pattern and white iris, and show only a few pale feathers on the crown. The song is row of a Mourning Dove-like woo pop woooo calls; this species is a member of a diverse clade of Patagioenas which vary much in appearance, but are united by their triple coos (except in the Scaled Pigeon).[2][4]
It is a resident breeder mainly in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica and Antigua. It breeds in smaller numbers in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and other Caribbean islands. It also breeds along the Caribbean coast of Central America. In the United States it is found only in the Florida Keys and the southern tip of mainland Florida.
The main threat to this species is hunting. In Florida a major cause of mortality is collision with man-made objects. Another main threat to this species is loss of habitat. The White-crowned Pigeon needs two distinct habitats, one for nesting and one for feeding. They typically breed in coastal red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), which continue to be clear-cut for crops such as sugarcane. Agriculture and deforestation have become a problem for the species' feeding grounds, typically inland hardwood forests. The bird is very skittish, and is known to simply abandon its nest when it is encroached upon.
References
- ^ BirdLife International (2004). Patagioenas leucocephala. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
- ^ a b Johnson, Kevin P.; de Kort, Selvino; Dinwoodey, Karen, Mateman, A. C.; ten Cate, Carel; Lessells, C. M. and Clayton, Dale H. (2001). "A molecular phylogeny of the dove genera Streptopelia and Columba" (PDF). Auk 118 (4): 874–887. http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~kjohnson/kpj_pdfs/Auk.2001.pdf.
- ^ Brands, S. J.. "Columba leucocephala". Systema Naturae 2000. http://www.taxonomicon.net/. Retrieved July 22, 2005.
- ^ Mahler, Bettina; Tubaro, Pablo L. (2001). "Relationship between song characters and morphology in New World pigeons". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 74 (4): 533–539. doi:10.1006/bijl.2001.0596.
External links
Categories:- IUCN Red List near threatened species
- Patagioenas
- Birds of Puerto Rico
- Birds of Central America
- Birds of the Greater Antilles
- Birds of the Lesser Antilles
- Birds of Antigua and Barbuda
- Birds of the British Virgin Islands
- Birds of the United States Virgin Islands
- Birds of Colombia
- Native birds of the Southeastern United States
- Birds of Anguilla
- Birds of the Bahamas
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