White-crowned Pigeon Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A plump bird with a small head, similar in shape to the familiar Rock Pigeon, if a bit slimmer. It has broad wings, a full, fairly long tail, and a short, slim bill and short legs.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Rock Pigeon, smaller than an American Crow.

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 13.0-13.8 in (33-35 cm)
    • Weight: 7.8-9.9 oz (220-280 g)
    • Wingspan: 23.2 in (59 cm)

  © Holly Kleindienst / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Adult male is slaty gray with white cap, pale eye, patch of iridescent green at nape, reddish legs, and reddish bill with pale tip. Adult females have a grayish white crown; juvenile crown is grayish brown.

• Behavior

  Forages near treetops on ripe fruit of native trees, often maneuvering acrobatically, even upside down, to reach fruits while perched. Flocks or single birds make long flights, high in the air, between nesting/roosting islands and tropical hardwood forests, where they forage. Nests in dense colonies when food is abundant, with males displaying conspicuously in flight and on perches. A nomadic species that seeks ripening fruit.
• Habitat

  Nests and roosts on low islands free of predators, usually where there are mangroves. Forages in tropical deciduous forests of many kinds, both wet and dry, lowland and montane, but its presence is unpredictable and depends on the presence of ripe fruit.