Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove

Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves feed on fruit high in the canopy and can be very hard to see. Often they are only detected by their calls or the sound of fruit dropping to the ground.

Identification

The Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove is a small, compact dove, with a short tail and rounded wings. Its name comes from the deep pink cap or forehead, which is bordered behind by a narrow yellow stripe. The upper body is bright green and the under-body orange and yellow with a rose-coloured patch. The throat and upper breast is rough grey. In flight, dark underwings contrast with the yellow body and band on the end of the tail. The female is similar, but lighter.

Habitat

Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves are found in coastal tall tropical and sub-tropical forests, particularly with dense vine growth, in monsoon rainforest and tall woodlands near rainforest with many fruiting trees. They are sometimes found in mangroves.

Distribution

The Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove is widespread in northern and eastern Australia, from the Kimberley region of Western Australia through the Top End to Cape York and the Torres Strait and to the mid-north coast of New South Wales. They also are found in Indonesia.

Seasonality

Partly migratory and partly resident, maybe with local dispersal for feeding. In eastern Australia, there is some north-south seasonal migration.

Feeding and diet

Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves feed in the canopy of rainforest, mainly in the morning or late afternoon. They swallow fruit whole and particularly like figs and the fruit of other species of rainforest trees, palms and vines. They also use Camphor Laurel as a food source. They feed singly or in pairs or small parties and take water from leaves or from dew, not from the ground.

Communication

The birds are often detected by their call, a loud 'boo-uk-boo' or 'woo-up-woo'.

Breeding behaviours

Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves breed in rainforests with a dense growth of vines. Courting is the typical bowing display of pigeons, tucking in the head and displaying the pink cap. The nest is a frail loosely woven cup of twigs and tendrils. Both birds incubate, but predators often take the single egg.

• Breeding season: October to January
• Clutch size: One
• Incubation: 18 days
• Time in nest: 12 days

Conservation status

The Rose-crowned Fruit Dove is listed as vulnerable in New South Wales, with threats including: rainforest clearing and fragmentation, logging, weeds and increased fire regimes altering habitat, and the removal of Camphor Laurel, an introduced tree that has become an important food source, without appropriate alternatives.

References

• Crome, F. and Shields, J. 1992. Parrots and Pigeons of Australia. Angus and Robertson/National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Sydney.
• Morcombe, M. 2000. Field guide to Australian Birds. Steve Parish Publishing.
• Higgins, P.J. and S.J.J.F. Davies (eds) 1996. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 3 (Snipe to Pigeons). Oxford University Press, Victoria.