Brown Cuckoo-Dove

About the Brown Cuckoo-Dove

The brown cuckoo-dove (Macropygia phasianella) is a dove in the genus Macropygia found in Australia from Weipa and Aurukun in the north to Bega in the south, and most inland at Atherton and Toowoomba. It is sometimes called the "brown pigeon" or "pheasant pigeon", but both terms are best avoided, as they can lead to confusion with the brown doves and the true pheasant pigeon. It was one of three new species defined when the slender-billed cuckoo-dove was split in 2016.

The brown cuckoo-dove was formally described in 1821 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck from a specimen collected near Port Jackson in New South Wales, Australia. He coined the binomial name Columba phasianella. The specific name is a diminutive of the Latin phasianus, meaning "pheasant". The brown cuckoo-dove is now placed in the genus Macropygia, which was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1837.

Three subspecies are recognised: M. p. quinkan Schodde, 1989 - Cape York Peninsula M. p. robinsoni Mathews, 1912 - Queensland M. p. phasianella (Temminck, 1821) - East and Southeast Australia The brown cuckoo-dove is from 40 to 43 centimetres (16 to 17 in... Wikipedia →