Pink-necked Green Pigeon
By Charlie • December 15, 2005 • 11 commentsPink-necked Green Pigeon Treron vernans
Singapore. Several dates.
The Pink-necked Green Pigeon Treron vernans is distributed within Southeast Asia - from Southern Myanmar, to the Malay peninsula and Singapore, to Sulawesi, the Philippines and Borneo.
The only commonly seen green pigeon in Singapore (it’s always worth checking flocks of Pink-necked for the locally scarce Thick-billed Green Pigeon Treron curvirostra though), the species probably used to be far more common in the past than it is now; bags of them where regularly shot during colonial times apparently. They are still hunted in other parts of Asia, usually shot as they gather in large flocks in the evening at communal roosts.
Besides hunting pressure they are probably also adversely affected by the disappearance of their food trees, but in Singapore they have adapted to non-forest habitats such as mangroves and cultivated land in rural as well as urban areas: they are very common around the island’s main golf course for example (at the Singapore Island Country Club), where they are often found feeding on the berries of the Straits Rhododendron Melastoma malabathricum and where most of the photographs below were taken.
Two Pink-necked Pigeons at dawn, Central Catchment Nature Reserve. April 2004
Two males (upper) and a female (lower),
Central Catchment Nature Reserve. October 2008
Male, Dec 2005
Male, Dec 2005
Male, Dec 2005
Male, April 2004
Female, April 2004
Female, April 2004
Female, April 2004
Female, April 2004
All photographs copyright Charlie Moores
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ahhhh…
I have nothing more than that to say -
a beautifully stunned silence.
Thank you.
You are very, very welcome
I spotted one near the small forested area between Sixth Ave and Old Holland Road in Bukit Timah. That area is quite rich in bird life as I also spotted a migrating bald eagle. I’m presuming it’s migrating as it had a regular perch in one section of the forest for less than a week, then could no longer be found.
Hi Elaine - thanks for commenting. Bukit Timah is a particularly good area isn’t it. One thing though, Bald Eagles are confined to North America - what you most likely saw was a White-bellied Sea eagle - have a look at http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Haliaeetus_leucogaster.htm and see if that’s your bird.
All the best
Charlie
I live off Stevens Road and about 3 weeks ago what seems to be one of these pigeons arrived in one of a small row of potted bushes that I have on my ground floor balcony which are there just to give a bit of protection and privacy from the road. It built a very flimsy looking nest, laid two eggs which hatched about a week ago and there are now two chicks which seem to spend most of the day underneath the female but in the last day or two I have seen them feeding from her beak. The maid carefully sweeps the balcony each morning and I sometimes sit out there and read and the bird doesn’t seem to mind and just stares at us. It’s great to watch and fantastic to be able to see mother nature at work just 4 feet from my lounge window..!
Richard - wow. Pink-necked Green Pigeons down to four feet must be very special indeed! How are the chicks doing?
Cheers
The chicks did well. After about 12 days they took their maiden flight to a tree nearby where I could see the adult bird was waiting and, as it happened to be a saturday morning, we were fortunate enough to see them go. They stayed there for a while, then moved onto another tree across the road and haven’t been back since, which hopefully means that they have now successfully gone on to bigger and better things. My wife and I now know the true meaning of “empty nest” syndrome (!!) although hopefully the pair may return next year.
Richard: many thanks for the update, great to hear that they fledged and did well. All the best, Charlie
great man, have you more photos?
hi charlie, omg your photos of the male pink necked pigeon are stunning! this was my first bird ie. seen through a pair of binoculars years and years ago, and i do remember how my jaw dropped and life changed completely after that! i’m still a very amateur birder, who has been way-laid by 3 young kids lately, but still in love with the bird world! yesterday, as we were walking the tree top trail we saw a green pigeon on the forest floor. in all the excitement, i only managed to notice its green wings, and bright red beak (the whole beak was red). its face looked heavily made up. i’m sorry i can’t provide more detail but my heart was just beating so fast and it was moving. would you know what i saw?
jennifer (singapore)
Hi Jennifer
Thanks for you kind comments - always gratefully received! They are gorgeous birds aren’t they - makes it easy to get a good photo…
Your bird sounds like a Jambu Fruit Dove (check out http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=jambu+fruit+dove&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=). It’s an uncommon visitor to Singapore, usually when the fig trees are fruiting. If that’s what you saw, congratulations! The local birders would probably be interested and if that is what you saw I could let a few of them know for you if you’d like me to?
All the best
Charlie