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Rookery
Superb Fruit-Dove, a uncommon bird in Roost
  • Superb Fruit-Dove, profile

    Profile

  • Superb Fruit-Dove, in flight

    In flight

Pigeons & Doves

Superb Fruit-Dove

Ptilinopus superbus

  • uncommon
  • 63 km/h
  • Least Concern

Male has a violet crown, orange nape, green back, and purple chest band.

Habitat
Lowland and hill rainforest (subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest), subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, mangrove vegetation above the high-tide line, forest edge, and — in parts of its range, especially where nomadic — modified habitats including plantations, eucalypt woodland with fruiting trees, and urban areas. Occurs from sea level to about 1,600 m elevation. A strong disperser that tracks fruit availability.
Fun fact
Despite the male's vivid purple-crowned, orange-naped, green-and-yellow plumage, Superb Fruit-Doves are easily overlooked in the canopy — their wings produce an audible whistling sound in flight, which is often the first sign of one nearby, and their call is a steady coo-coo-coo-coo.
Range
Indo-Pacific/Australasia. IUCN range states: Australia, Indonesia (incl. Sulawesi/Wallacea), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands. Also documented (per Wikipedia/HBW) in the southern Philippines (Palawan region) and the Bismarck Archipelago. Within Australia: eastern and northern coast, from around Moruya, New South Wales, north through coastal Queensland to Cape York. Partially migratory/nomadic in the southern part of its Australian range, tracking fruiting trees.
Diet
Frugivore — feeds almost entirely on small rainforest fruits and berries, with figs (Ficus spp.) forming a large part of the diet in many areas along with palm and other tree fruits (max. fruit size taken ~1.7 cm diameter); swallows fruit whole.
Size
0.23 m

More Pigeons & Doves

The next 12 of the 22 in the collection, after this one.