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Doug J | all galleries >> Birds, Birds, Birds >> Non-passeriformes Gallery > Nicobar Pigeon
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Nicobar Pigeon

Scientific name: Caloenas nicobarica
Order: Columbiformes

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The Nicobar Pigeon is a pigeon which is a resident breeding bird on small uninhabited islands in Indonesia and the Nicobar Islands. The Nicobar Pigeon roams in flocks from island to island, including inhabited sites, seeking its food of seeds, fruit and some invertebrates, and is attracted to areas where grain is available; usually, it sleeps on offshore islets where no predators occur and spends the day in areas with better food availability.

Its flight is quick, with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are characteristic of pigeons in general. Peculiarly, groups tend to fly in columns or single file, not in a loose flock as most other pigeons do; the white tail seems to serve as a sort of "taillight" when crossing water at dawn or dusk. These observations are also supported by inexperienced birds, which could lead a group astray, lacking this feature.

This species nests in dense forest, building a stick nest in a tree and laying one elliptical, faintly blue-tinged white egg.

Canon EOS 10D ,Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
1/1000s f/5.0 at 98mm (EF 70-200mm + EF 1.4x TC) ISO 800 with Flash full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
comment
Guest 26-Sep-2004 02:47
She is so beautiful... 0_0. (well, i only assume that it's a "she", but either way, that is one beautiful bird, thanks for sharing. ^_^.)