Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove

About the Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove

The bar-tailed cuckoo-dove or black-billed cuckoo-dove (Macropygia nigrirostris) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is native to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. It is rated as a species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Endangered Species.

The bar-tailed cuckoo-dove measures 29 centimetres (11 in) in length. It has a short, completely black bill. The six central tail feathers are black barred. The central breast feathers are not bifurcated. The male is ruddy-brown, with no clear distinction between the underparts and the upperparts. The female, however, has black barred upperparts. The juvenile is similar to the female, but its tail is barred irregularly.

It is differentiated from other sympatric (other species existing in the same geographic area and thus frequently encountering with it) pigeons other than cuckoo-doves, by its chestnut brown plumage and slender, long tail.

It is native to Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. It inhabits old-growth forests, forest peripheries, and second-growth forests. It also occurs commonly on submontane forests on altitudes of up... Wikipedia →