Victoria Crowned Pigeon by danob

Photography • Creatures • posted on Jan 31, 2010

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

The Victoria Crowned Pigeon is the largest living pigeon apart from the extinct dodo! Which was also a member of the pigeon family, but was much larger, weighing around 14 kg. Like the crowned pigeon, the dodo fed on the forest floor, and with no predators on its island home of Mauritius and so not needing to fly, it evolved shorter wings and became flightless. Conservation wise they are endangered as they are hunted for food and sport and collected alive for illegal sale. Other than this the main culprit as usual is forestry and mining activities that threaten the forest they live in. They have largely disappeared from areas of human habitation but are thought to be fairly common in the wilder jungles of New Guinea. This captive bird nesting is part of the European conservation project and has been bred succesfully, however very little is known about the birds habits due to where it currently lives in Deep jungle, I am unsure about how it can be re-inroduced back into the wild.

Comments (44)

)

kgb224

10:48AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Outstanding capture my friend.

)

ragouc

10:49AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Great shot.

)

flora-crassella

10:58AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

fantastic shot!!!! ...and an interesting information!

)

mininessie

11:02AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

wow..precious!

)

knupps

11:03AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Wonderful shot of a strange looking bird.

)

adrie

11:10AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

As always my friend, your bird pictures are amazingly beautiful...love it.

)

dragonmuse

11:13AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Very pretty bird. Would be a shame if they vanished.

)

carlx

11:13AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Fantastic pigeon and capture, Danny!!!

)

durleybeachbum

11:14AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Superb.

)

iaacf

11:18AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

I now them from the Zoo, but how sensational it would be to see them in their own environment.. which goes for many creatures of course. A very fine capture..

)

flavia49

11:49AM | Sun, 31 January 2010

splendid capture!!

West_coaster07

12:02PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Great capture as always Danny!!

garegaupe

12:04PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Superb Danny - what a "funny" bird.

)

RedundantlyAbundant

12:07PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

I was not aware of this species of pigeon! Look at that red eye! Thanks for the background story as per usual.

Foto-Arte

12:23PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Awesome shot!

)

helanker

12:30PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

WOW ! What a beautiful pigeon. Have never seen such one before. Excellent shot.

)

Meisiekind

1:04PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Most amazing bird. I must admit that I didn't even know that it existed... Brilliant capture Danny! At did know about the Dodo and I have been to Mauritius...

)

jeroni

1:13PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Very nice shot and colour contrast

)

lior

1:52PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

So fabulous,Dany!

)

magnus073

3:10PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Love the photo Danny and it is such a treat as I have never seen one of these little guys before

)

bazza

3:51PM | Sun, 31 January 2010

Great shot of this bird Danny.. Have never seen one of this breed before, it looks lovely can see why people would want them illegally or otherwise.. I use to have pigeons and doves many years ago..

)