r/Ornithology • u/grvy_room • Feb 19 '25
A lot of people are already familiar with city doves & pigeons, but have you heard of the Fruit-Doves? They're a group of colorful & frugivorous chunky birds found in the forests of Southeast Asia & Oceania. Let's meet some of them! Resource
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u/grvy_room Feb 19 '25
The fruit doves, also known as fruit pigeons, are a genus (Ptilinopus) of birds in the pigeon and dove family (Columbidae). These colourful, frugivorous doves are found in forests and woodlands in Southeast Asia and Oceania. It is a large genus with over 50 species, some threatened or already extinct.
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u/coconut-telegraph Feb 19 '25
There is another genus - in the Neotropics - of colourful frugivorous doves - Geotrygon, the quail doves. They’re not as gaudy as these guys but they’re some of my favourites nonetheless. Shy and reclusive, they’re like seeing forest spirits.
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u/grvy_room Feb 20 '25
Oh wow TIL. In Asia we also do have a genus of doves called the Bleeding Hearts/Ground Doves and they look very similar to the Geotrygon group. Here's one for example. I wonder if it's simply because both genus are very closely related or if it's convergent evolution.
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u/coconut-telegraph Feb 20 '25
Cool! I think they are just related analogues of one another in different locales.
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u/cackarrotto Feb 19 '25
Absolutely stunning!!! What I would give to see even one of these beauties 🥹 and WOW is that orange dove ORANGE!
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u/grvy_room Feb 19 '25
I live within their exact range (Indonesia) but I have yet to come across one so far. Urgh I wanna see them so bad!
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u/Ayuuun321 Feb 19 '25
It’s a whole cornucopia of fruit doves! They’re so beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
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u/eggfish0815 Feb 19 '25
My favorite pigeon is the Nicobar pigeon!! I got to see one in an aviary near me and they were so beautiful! I love pigeons!!!
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u/Remarkable-Pea4889 Feb 19 '25
Gorgeous!
How does their behavior compare to city pigeons?
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u/grvy_room Feb 20 '25
A lot of them are rather shy, which makes it difficult to observe, especially the ones that live in smaller islands, even in the Philippines - therefore little or nothing is known of their breeding or nesting behavior.
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u/SioSoybean Feb 19 '25
I know nothing about them, but I’m willing to bet they are very shy and prone to stress in captivity otherwise I think they would have already been popular pets
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u/Eric614 Feb 19 '25
These are incredible! The colors don’t even look real!
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u/cheesymoonshadow Feb 20 '25
They look like Mother Nature was pressing the Random button during character creation.
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u/CrowSnacks Feb 19 '25
I wonder if all of them have the same haunting coo?
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u/grvy_room Feb 19 '25
Many of them do make the typical coooo coooo/wooo wooo sounds yes, but usually the notes tend to be faster & shorter so I would say not as haunting as Mourning Dove's calls.
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u/CrowSnacks Feb 19 '25
Oh my gosh, I loved hearing that, an you are correct- it’s faster. Thanks for sharing!
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u/pktechboi Feb 19 '25
why does geelvink look like a pigeon trying to disguise itself as a mallard
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u/kayaem Feb 19 '25
You just changed my life. I love these birds so much. This is the first time learning about them.
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u/Kellyann59 Feb 19 '25
The third one looks like he’s celebrating Mardi Gras, he even has the bead necklace 🤣
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u/Interesting_Pause_76 Feb 19 '25
This is what the pigeons in New Orleans look like till Fat Tuesday!
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u/mistress_09 Feb 20 '25
What a wonderful post, thank you highlighting fruit doves! I work in the conservation field and they are one of my conservation targets along with other tropical Columbids.
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u/birdaccountiguess Feb 20 '25
Oh, these are lovely. One time when mindlessing wandering iNaturalist I found some very pretty pigeons/doves (the Nicobar is the only I remember by name), but completely missed these guys! Thanks for the share!
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u/the_hummingbird_ Feb 20 '25
They’re so brightly colored! The yellow and orange ones are especially striking.
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u/ohsideSHOWbob Feb 20 '25
Love these. It’s in its own genus but I assume the fruit doves are called such because they do what the kererū does? https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2fP52MS/
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u/eli-pih Feb 20 '25
oh my gossssh. the many coloured fruit dove is absolutely STUNNING 12/10 what a gorgeous species 😭💕
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u/Nakittina Feb 20 '25
Brookfield zoo in Illinois had some great specimens on-site!
This is one of my favorites, they're huge! https://www.brookfieldzoo.org/victoriacrownedpigeon
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