Asian Emerald Dove

About the Asian Emerald Dove

The emerald dove or common emerald dove (Chalcophaps indica), also called Asian emerald dove and grey-capped emerald dove, is a widespread resident breeding pigeon native to the tropical and subtropical parts of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The dove is also known by the names of green dove and green-winged pigeon. The common emerald dove is the state bird of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Pacific emerald dove and Stephan's emerald dove were both considered conspecific.

In 1743, the English naturalist George Edwards included a picture and a description of the common emerald dove in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "Green Wing'd Dove". His drawing was made from a live bird at the home a merchant in Rotherhithe near London. Edwards was told that the dove had come from the East Indies. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the common emerald dove with all the other pigeons in the genus Columba. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Columba indica and cited Edwards's work. The specific epithet indica is Latin for "Indian"... Wikipedia →