I don’t often make “birding statements” claiming absolute certainty as there are just too many variables and (thankfully) too many different people birding to be sure of anything really - but I think I can say without fear of correction that every birder has a “wish list” of birds they’d really, really like to see one day, and as their horizons broaden to looking further afield than their local patch that wish list inevitably grows more difficult to fulfill. Two years ago, though, I was handed a chance to see one of the least accessible birds on my own personal list through a short visit to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean - home of the highly endangered and evocative Pink Pigeon.

Why a large pigeon on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere should have captured my imagination I have no idea - other than it’s PINK, it’s VERY RARE, and I’d have to go to Mauritius to see one of course (all of which reminds me of that supremely mischievous question Mrs Merton/Caroline Aherene asked of the pouting Debbie McGee, “So, what was it that first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”. And was I disappointed when I finally had my wish come true? What do you think - just look at the photos below and tell me you’d have been disappointed with such good views of a globally rare bird that looks like this…

Pink Pigeon Columba/Streptopelia mayeri
Ile aux Aigrettes, Mauritius

The Pink Pigeon is one of the rarest - and once one of the most threatened - birds in the world.

At one time Pink Pigeons were found throughout Mauritius. Subfossil remains from Mare aux Songes confirm that they once occurred in the lowlands but by the 19th century Pink Pigeons were confined to the upland forest, and its distribution had become heavily fragmented by the early 1900’s. The destruction of native forest on a massive scale, the persecution of pigeons by people and the introduction of a variety of exotic predators all contributed to the decline of this large and striking bird. By the 1950’s there were thought to be only 40 to 60 Pink Pigeons left. By the early 1970s the Pink Pigeon was confined to the upland forests of the Black River Gorges, Macchabee and Brise Fer ridges. By the early 1980s this range had declined to a single population of 20 birds near Bassin Blanc in a grove of introduced Japanese Red Cedar Cryptomeria japonica called Pigeon Wood. In 1986, only 12 Pigeons could be found in Pigeon Wood and the five nesting attempts recorded all failed due to predation by Rats. (Adapted from www.mauritian-wildlife.org/pigeon.htm.)

Intensive rearing efforts on Ile aux Aigrettes has been the main reason that the population of Pink Pigeon now stands at around 360 (Vikash Tatayah, MWF pers comm, Nov 2005) - of those, there are about 75 on the islet.

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores