Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) | Photos, Calls and ID

LCLeast ConcernSeeds

GrasslandPlatform nestMedium · 204 g

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 1 — Photo: Martin Rady · CC BY 4.0

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 2 — Photo: Mark Clarke · CC BY 4.0

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 3 — Photo: Damien O'Donnell · CC BY 4.0

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 4 — Photo: Kom S · CC BY 4.0

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 5 — Photo: Martin Rady · CC BY 4.0

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 6 — Photo: Martin Hannan-Jones · CC BY 4.0

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 7 — Photo: Mark Clarke · CC BY 4.0

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), photo 8 — Photo: David Orlovich · CC BY 4.0

What the Crested Pigeon sounds like

Sonogram of the Crested Pigeon: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by Peter Russell · Call · Cooya Pooya, Shire of Roebourne, Western Australia, Australia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by James Ray · Call, flight call, flight · Faulconbridge, Blue Mountains City Council, New South Wales, Australia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The length of the crested pigeon varies from 30 to 34 cm (12 to 13 in). Colouration is grey with tinges of brown, pink and green. It has a feathered, but slender, black spike on top of the head. It runs with the crest erect. The periorbital skin is bright orange. Wings have black stripes and are bronzed, while the primary feathers have iridescent areas of brown, purple, blue, and green. Immature birds have duller colours with no bronzing on the wings. The birds can be normally seen in two sizes, they can be thin or plumped.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Crested Pigeon

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Crested Pigeon

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 1 country with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Australia

Recorded as a rare visitor in Japan.

About the Crested Pigeon

The crested pigeon is a bird found widely throughout mainland Australia except for the far northern tropical areas. Only two Australian pigeon species possess an erect crest, the crested pigeon and the spinifex pigeon. The crested pigeon is the larger of the two species. The crested pigeon is sometimes referred to as a topknot pigeon, a common name shared with the reddish crested Lopholaimus antarcticus of Eastern Australia.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Inca DoveColumbina incaVoice: The song, a forceful cooing rendered variously as cowl-coo, POO-pup, or NO-hope, may be given from a tree, wire, or other open, high perch such as a television aerial.

Common Ground DoveColumbina passerinaThe common ground dove is North America's smallest and one of the world's smallest by mass.

Band-tailed PigeonPatagioenas fasciataThe band-tailed pigeon is one of the largest pigeons in the Americas, measuring 33 to 40 cm (13 to 16 in) long and weighing 226–460 g (8.0–16.2 oz), with the males on average slightly larger than females, but with much overlap.

Side by side: Crested Pigeon vs Inca Dove · Common Ground Dove vs Crested Pigeon · Band-tailed Pigeon vs Crested Pigeon

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