Order: Columbiformes

Family: Columbidae

Scientific name: Treron bicinctus, Jerdon, 1840

IUCN Red list status- Least Concern

Did you know?

  1. Orange Breasted Green Pigeon is also known as Orange Breasted Pigeon.

Description

The orange-breasted green pigeon is a slightly large pigeon, measuring 30 cm in length and weighing 155 to 200 grams. The overall plumage of the orange-breasted pigeon is green. The head, back and wings are olive green. The female has a gray area on the head. The forehead, face and throat are greenish yellow. The belly region is greenish yellow. In males, the upper breast has a narrow band of lilac and the lower breast is orange. The under tail-coverts are beige-brown with the longer feathers edged pale yellow. The upper tail is gray with a broad, dark sub terminal band. In females the breast is yellowish. The bill has pale blue upper mandible and pale greenish yellow lower mandible. The irises are whitish and there is a brownish eye ring. The legs and feet are reddish.

Diet

Orange Breasted Green Pigeons are frugivorous by nature and their diet consists mainly of fruits. Wild fruits, berries, figs and cultivated fruits are their primary food. They also feed several types of figs and berries, guavas and wild palm fruits. They usually forage on the branches of fruiting trees. The forage time is mainly day and it is done solitarily or in small groups

Habitat

Orange Breasted Green Pigeons have moderate forest dependence. Their natural ecosystems and habitats include well wooded countries and broadleveled forests. Sometimes they are also seen in foothill forests. In India they are distributed throughout the union in wet and evergreen and moist deciduous environment. They are also seen in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Reproductive Behaviour

The breeding season of Orange Breasted Green Pigeon is from March to September in India with a peak in April to July. They are generally monogamous. The nesting sites of these pigeons include fork and branches of trees and shrubs. The nest is a flimsy platform of twigs and sticks which is built by both parents. Normally two white eggs are laid. Both the parents incubate the eggs for 12-14 days. The nestlings are initially fed with regurgitated crop-milk of parent birds.

Call

Call is a series of mellow modulated whistles.

Related Species and Sub Species

  • Grey Fronted Green Pigeon(Treron affinis)
  • Yellow Legged Green Pigeon(Treron phoenicoptera)
  • Treron bicinctus leggei of Sri Lanka.

Migratory Behaviour

Non Migratory, but rare Resident