| Bronzewing Pigeons | ||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
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| † see also: Columbidae |
The bronzewing pigeons are a group of Australian pigeons with a distinctive iridescent wing patch which bronze or green-brown in dull light, but flashes in many bright colours in the sun as the bird moves.
There are three species always known as "bronzewings" in the genus Phaps, and several broadly similar birds that also have the trademark wing patch to a more or less obvious degree. Bronzewings are ground feeders but capaple of very fast flight. They tend to browse quietly until disturbed, then remain still, their earthy browns blending into the earth and leaf litter until the intruder approaches too closely, at which point the bronzewing takes off with an explosive burst of sudden wingclapping and feather noise, and dissapears from sight within moments.
The dividing line between the bronzewings and the rock pigeons is arbitrary: essentially, rock pigeons are bronzewings without bronze on their wings. Members of the group include:
- The Common Bronzewing (Phaps calcoptera) is a large, bulky pigeon with a small head, found in all parts of Australia bar some of the deep desert, Cape York Peninsula, and urban areas. Its advertising call is an extraordinary mournful whooo repeated at metronomic intervals for an interminable length of time. Although rather wary by nature, birds in the urban fringes become quite used to humans.
- The Brush Bronzewing (Phaps elegans) is uncommon, probably threatened. Marginally smaller than the Common Bronzewing and rather secretive—except for its call, which is slightly faster and higher-pitched but maintained through the hottest days with equally monotonous determination. Brush Bronzewings nest low down, often on the ground, and are very vulnerable to feral cats and foxes.
- Flock Bronzewing (Phaps histrionica)
- Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)
- Spinifex Pigeon (Geophaps plumifera)
- Partridge Pigeon (Geophaps smithii)
- Squatter Pigeon (Geophaps scripta)