Columbidae


Description

This large cosmopolitan family includes one of the most familiar and spectacularly successful domesticated bird species in the world – the Feral (Domestic) Pigeon, whose ancestor is the European Rock Dove. Although considered a pest in some cities, this humble bird has been exploited by humans for millennia. Various doves are extremely popular in Java as cage birds.  There are 90 species in Indonesia, 25 in Java and Bali and 11 are found in Baluran National Park. Pigeons and doves are characterized by a plump body with a relatively small head and short legs. The bill is also relatively short, narrow and slightly bent down at the tip, with a soft naked cere at the base. Although some seed-eating species have adapted to life in cities, the majority of Asian species are forest dwellers, where they eat fruits and play a vital role in dispersing the seeds of forest trees. While seed-eaters have gizzards in the stomachs to grind the feeds and long intestines, whereas fruit-eating species have short intestines and elastic oesophagus to allow passage of large fruits.

Generally social birds, forming large flocks in some species. Seed-eating doves tend to be sedentary, whereas fruit-eating pigeons may be locally or regionally nomadic. Almost all pigeons and dove need to drink at least once a day, and do so by sucking water rather than usual scrooping technique. Courtship displays include bowing and tail-fanning as well as spectacular display flights in some species. Nests are typically flimsy platforms of sticks, sometimes just a few, on which they lay one or two whitish eggs. The male incubates the eggs during the middle of the day, the females for the rest of the time, so that eggs are rarely left exposed. Young pigeons stay in the nest for 7- 30 days, depending on species, and for the first few days are fed ‘pigeon-milk’ by regurgitation, a nutritious secretion produced in the crop of both parents.

Flight

Fast, straight, quite noisy especially when take off.

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