Superb Fruit Dove

Male

Phylum : Chordata
Class : Aves
Order : Columbiformes
Family : Columbidae
Genus : Ptilinopus
Species : superbus

Length : 9in (23cm)

IUCN Status : Least Concern

As the resident of a large city, I am insanely jealous of the beautiful pigeons and dove found in Australia and New Guinea. Sure, our good old Rock Pigeons can be sort of neat looking sometimes, but overall they can't hold a candle to the Victoria Crowned Pigeon, or today's animal, the Superb Fruit Dove. This species, found in New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, and various other islands, has striking coloration in both males an females, though the male has an absolutely fantastic color palette.

Female

Superb Fruit Doves live up in the canopy, and the females are predominantly green in order to remain camouflaged. They do however, have speckles of other colors, including a purple crown. Males take that crown to a whole new level, mixing it with a bright orange neck, blue breast, and green feathers and bands elsewhere. Juveniles resemble females, though they lack the purple crown.

Superb Fruit Doves live alone or sometimes in pairs, and they feed primarily off of fruits. They build nests out of twigs a few meters from the ground, and lay one egg at a time. This egg is watched over by the female at night and the male by day. Many birds migrate between New Guinea and areas in Australia each year.