The Western Crowned Pigeon
>> Dec 11, 2010
I captured this scarce bird several years ago, at a Bird Park in Safari Park (Taman Safari) Cisarua Bogor. This elegant bird is also known as the Common Crowned Pigeon or Blue Crowned Pigeon (Goura cristata). Indonesia people call it Dara Mahkota. It is a large, approximately 75cm long, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females. So beautiful!
Along with its close and very similar looking relatives the Victoria Crowned Pigeon and the Southern Crowned Pigeon; it is one of the largest and is considered one of the most beautiful members of the pigeon family. The Western Crowned Pigeon is found in the lowland rainforests of Papua, Indonesia. Since it’s one of scarce species critters, I hope that we, human kind, can maintain these birds for many years to come!
