Pigeons- ORDER: Columbiformes
- FAMILY: Columbidae
Basic Description
The debonair White-crowned Pigeon is a large, slate-gray pigeon with a neat white cap and striking white eyes. Widespread around the Caribbean, it crosses into southernmost Florida, where it feeds on fruit in trees near the coast and on islands, including the Keys. White-crowned Pigeons make long-distance morning and evening flights high over open water between islands, as they commute from mangrove forests to areas with fruiting fig and other tropical fruit trees.
More ID InfoFind This Bird
These dark gray pigeons blend in well to the dark foliage of trees where they forage, so scan carefully through tree canopies early in the morning to find them. Trees with ripe fruit including figs, gumbo-limbo, blolly, poisonwood, and ironwood are likely places. Watch for them high in the sky in the early morning and late in the day as they commute between roosting and foraging areas.
Other Names
- Paloma Coronita (Spanish)
- Pigeon à couronne blanche (French)
- Cool Facts
- The White-crowned Pigeon has a daily commute sometimes more than 30 miles. Each morning it leaves nest and roost sites on islands in search of forests with fruiting trees, often on the mainland.
- Many pigeons and doves are powerful fliers. The ground speed of the White-crowned Pigeon in flight has not been formally documented, but it has been said to outpace a fast motorboat.
- The oldest recorded wild White-crowned Pigeon was at least 14 years, 5 months old and lived on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.