The Superb Fruit-Dove Has A Wonderful Mix Of Colors That Will Make You Fall In Love With It
This bird may not impress you with its size, but its colors will make you fall in love with it. With shades of orange, red, green, and purple, it looks like it just came from a painter's studio.
Nature is, indeed, the best artist. The superb fruit dove (Ptilinopus superbus), also known as the purple-crowned fruit dove (yes, the name is confusingly similar to the purple-capped fruit dove), is a medium-sized, colorful fruit dove in the Columbidae family.
It is sexually dimorphic. Males are superbly colored (hence the name), with a flaming orange nape, green ears, and a purple crown.
The chest is gray and divided from the belly by a wide dark blue band. The wings are olive green and covered with dark spots.
The tail is tipped with white. Females do not have such vibrant colors or the same color mix as the males.
They are predominantly green, with a white belly, blue-tipped wings, and a light blue breast. They also have a small dark blue spot on the back of the head.
Both males and females have yellow eyes and eye-rings. The superb fruit dove is native to Australasia and lives in the rainforests of New Guinea, Indonesia, Australia, the Solomon Islands, and the Philippines.
A Superb fruit dove is a medium-sized bird, 8 to 10 inches long
The superb fruit dove prefers areas around the edges of rainforests, in mangroves, and alongside rivers and streams. However, it is not unusual to see them near plantations or urban gardens.
The superb fruit dove is a medium-sized bird, measuring 8 to 10 inches long. It primarily feeds on fruits and berries, with figs being its favorite food. They have a large gape, which allows them to swallow bulky items.
It is sexually dimorphic. Females and males have different color patterns.
Superb Fruit-Doves are arboreal - living entirely in trees
Superb fruit doves breed from September to January, building nests on tree branches that are 15 to 100 feet high. The female lays just one egg, and both parents incubate it.
Afterward, they continue to care for the chick together. The chick will fledge about seven days after hatching.
It primarily feeds on fruits and berries. Figs are its favorite food.
Superb Fruit-Doves are arboreal (living entirely in trees) and feed almost exclusively on fruit, mostly in large trees. This makes them difficult to spot, and their presence is most often revealed by the sound of fruit falling through the leaves and onto the forest floor below.
The superb fruit dove is native to Australasia
The superb fruit dove prefers areas around the edges of rainforests and in mangroves.
They are difficult to spot because they spend most of their lives in high trees.
The females lay just one egg, and both parents take care of the offspring
Watch them on video:
Superb fruit doves' wings whistle when they fly, and their call is a steady coo-coo-coo-coo. They are not endangered; habitat loss is a primary threat, but they are still fairly widespread and common throughout their extensive range.
They mostly reside in one area but can be nomadic if food becomes scarce.
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