It seems that the Pied Imperial Pigeon (Ducula bicolor) and Torresian Imperial Pigeon (Ducula spilorrhoa) are separate species in the IOU list.
Torresian Imperial Pigeon is the species in Australia plus se PNG.
Pied Imperial Pigeon is the species from SE Asia , Philippines, Indonesia and w Papua.
There is an historical record in Feb 1899 of a pigeon in Flying Fish Cove at Christmas Island. Presumably this would be the Pied Imperial Pigeon.
Does anyone know what the difference is between the two species? I had thought that the Kimberley form was the same as Indonesia, and these were resident species rather than migratory as Torresian Imperial Pigeon. The Kimberley birds have an orange vent. But the IOU have the Kimberley form as a sub species of Torresian Imperial Pigeon.
_________________________________________________________________ Frank O’Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email : foconnor@iinet.net.au
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Hello Mike, Frank & everyone else, Sorry for my late input & I’m not sure if this Pied/Torresian Imperial Pigeon discussion has been taken off-list, but I suspect it has. I would like to add the following commnets: Here in Cairns from my own observations, it has to be said that a very many individuals of Torresian Imperial Pigeon have indeed a rather rich lemon-yellow belly, vent & undertail, complete with various black markings from the vent down.They even have this pale golden colour showing on the underside of wings including the coverts, & this can be seen quite clearly at times also showing on the upperside of the wings, especially close to the body on the secondaries. I must say that this yellow plumage, in my own humble opinion, is not dealt with correctly in HANZAB. I have my own images of such individuals & they are adult birds. Anyone is welcome to see these pics. I hope that this does add, somewhat belatedly, to Mike & Frank’s on-line discussion re “orange” vents i n the Kimberley… Cheers for now, Martin Cachard, Cairns, 0428 782 808
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
The majority of Pied Imperial Pigeons have wholly white vents and undertail coverts whereas Torresian Imperial Pigeons have varying degrees of black spotting or barring in those areas. Although the Kimberley birds are a separate subspecies (of Torresian), no texts that I have consulted suggest that they or any taxon in this complex ever have an orange vent. Handbook Birds of WA says base of undertail coverts are yellow but from that description and as they are not shown in the illustration therein, I assume are hidden in the field.
I suppose it is more likely that the Christmas Island bird was a Pied Imperial Pigeon so perhaps that species should go on the Supplementary List.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136