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Vulnerable Victoria Crowned Pigeon

Scientific Name Goura victoria

Photo Taken At Sylvan Heights Bird Park, Scotland Neck, North Carolina, USA

IUCN Red List Status Near Threatened

Population

The population size is precautionarily estimated to fall into the band 10,000-20,000 individuals. Read More

Threats

It is prized by hunters for meat and, to a lesser extent, for its feathers (K. D. Bishop in litt. 1994). Nestlings are also taken to be reared for food (K. D. Bishop in litt. 1999). It has become extirpated from the vicinity of some transmigration settlements in Papua where it had survived constant hunting from indigenous people (King and Nijboer 1994), but elsewhere it does appear to persist close to habitation and close to hunters (G. Dutson in litt. 2013). The species is fairly difficult to hunt without a shotgun (which are essentially no longer available in New Guinea) ... Read More

Geographic Range

Goura victoria occurs on Biak-Supiori (where it may have been introduced), the Yapen islands, and northern New Guinea from Geelvink Bay, Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), Indonesia, to Astrolabe Bay, and an isolated area around Collingwood Bay in easternmost Papua New Guinea (Coates 1985, Beehler et al. 1986, King and Nijboer 1994). Its absence between Astrolabe Bay and Collingwood Bay is likely to be natural, given the lack of a coastal plain along this strip, though some think it may indicate a historic extirpation (King and Nijboer 1994, B. Beehler in litt. 2000, B. Beehler in litt. 2007). The main populations ... Read More

Habitat

This species is found in lowland forest, including swamp-forest, mostly in the extreme lowlands, but sometimes to 600 m (Coates 1985). It feeds on the ground in small groups of 2-10 birds and roosts in trees. Captive birds start breeding from 15 months old, lay a single egg, and tend to the fledgling for some months after hatching (King and Nijboer 1994). A study in 2014 found this species to be present only in continuous forest, and not in forest fragments (Sam et al. 2014). Read More

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RECENTLY ADDED SPECIES

BirdLife International 2016. Goura victoria. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22691874A93326799. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22691874A93326799.en

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