Western crowned pigeon

Goura cristata

The western crowned pigeon is a large, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females. It is on average 70 cm long and weighs 2.1 kg.
Western crowned pigeon, Malayauw, Papua After the Red-breasted paradise kingfisher, this is the second trophy bird of this location. The Western crowned pigeon only occurs in very remote sites of Northwestern New Guinea. A local guide saw it on the forest floor at great distance, moving away from us. He then made it a run at it, forcing the bird in a tree. We were shocked by how large it is. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/156840/western_crowned_pigeon_-_first_sight_malayauw_papua.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/156839/western_crowned_pigeon_-_perched_malayauw_papua.html Australia (continent),Geotagged,Goura cristata,Indonesia,Malayauw,New Guinea,Papua,Papua 2023,Spring,Vogelkop,West Papua,Western New Guinea,Western crowned pigeon

Appearance

Along with its close and very similar-looking relatives the Victoria crowned pigeon, Sclater's crowned pigeon, and Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon, it is one of the largest members of the pigeon family. The western crowned pigeon is found in and is endemic to the lowland rainforests of northwestern New Guinea; the other species of crowned pigeon inhabit different regions of the island. The diet consists mainly of fruits and seeds.
Western crowned pigeon - perched, Malayauw, Papua After the Red-breasted paradise kingfisher, this is the second trophy bird of this location. The Western crowned pigeon only occurs in very remote sites of Northwestern New Guinea. A local guide saw it on the forest floor at great distance, moving away from us. He then made it a run at it, forcing the bird in a tree. We were shocked by how large it is. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/156840/western_crowned_pigeon_-_first_sight_malayauw_papua.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/156838/western_crowned_pigeon_malayauw_papua.html Australia (continent),Geotagged,Goura cristata,Indonesia,Malayauw,New Guinea,Papua,Papua 2023,Spring,Vogelkop,West Papua,Western New Guinea,Western crowned pigeon

Naming

The western crowned pigeon was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name "Columba cristata". A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the western crowned pigeon was most closely related to Sclater's crowned pigeon.
Western crowned pigeon - first sight, Malayauw, Papua After the Red-breasted paradise kingfisher, this is the second trophy bird of this location. The Western crowned pigeon only occurs in very remote sites of Northwestern New Guinea. A local guide saw it on the forest floor at great distance, moving away from us. He then made it a run at it, forcing the bird in a tree. We were shocked by how large it is. https://www.jungledragon.com/image/156839/western_crowned_pigeon_-_perched_malayauw_papua.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/156838/western_crowned_pigeon_malayauw_papua.html Australia (continent),Geotagged,Goura cristata,Indonesia,Malayauw,New Guinea,Papua,Papua 2023,Spring,Vogelkop,West Papua,Western New Guinea,Western crowned pigeon

Cultural

* The western crowned pigeon is the official provincial bird of West Papua, and it appears on its coat of arms.
⤷  The video game spin-off "Angry Birds Stella" has a western crowned pigeon named Willow, who wears a striped hat to conceal her crest.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Status: Vulnerable
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassAves
OrderColumbiformes
FamilyColumbidae
GenusGoura
SpeciesG. cristata
Photographed in
Spain
Indonesia