Bird Album
Metallic Pigeon
Columba vitiensis Quoy & Gaimard, 1832
≈39 cmLength353 gWeight
It is a medium-sized pigeon whose adult crown can show purple and green iridescence.
Busiest months: August and October · Most records: New Caledonia, Samoa, Philippines
How to identify
Field marks
- Adult: crown can be iridescent purple and green
- Adult: wing coverts and uppertail-coverts black
- Adult: iris yellow-red, bill yellow, and area around the eye red
Male, female and young
Female is often duller, and juvenile is also duller than adult; throat color differs between sexes in some subspecies.
Where and when it's recorded
Busiest months: August and October · Most records: New Caledonia, Samoa, Philippines
Metallic Pigeon has been recorded at 81 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 9 countries and regions.
Records by month Southern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Mont KoghiNew Caledonia95 records
- Malolo'lelei Watershed ReserveSamoa90 records
- Pulau Mantanani BesarMalaysia75 records
More places
- Parc des Grandes FougèresNew Caledonia71 records
- Parc de la Rivière BleueNew Caledonia43 records
- Mt. Tagubud, New BataanPhilippines37 records
- Arfak Mtns – MaybriIndonesia31 records
- Refugio de FarinoNew Caledonia30 records
- Sawai Village RoadIndonesia29 records
- Vunisea – Road NorthFiji26 records
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
About
The metallic pigeon (Columba vitiensis) also known as white-throated pigeon, is a medium-sized bird up to 37 cm long, in the family Columbidae.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Metallic Pigeon?
The Metallic Pigeon is about ≈39 cm long and weighs around 353 g.
Where does the Metallic Pigeon live?
Its breeding range: Oriental, Australasia, Pacific Ocean: Philippines to Samoa (central Polynesia). It is most often recorded in New Caledonia, Samoa and Philippines.
When is the best time to see the Metallic Pigeon?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in August and October (Southern Hemisphere).
Is the Metallic Pigeon endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Metallic Pigeon as Least Concern.
What does the Metallic Pigeon eat?
Main food: Omnivore.
What family is the Metallic Pigeon in?
It belongs to the family Pigeons, Doves (Columbidae), order Columbiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- ≈39 cm
- Weight
- 353 g
- Habitat
- Forest
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Lifestyle
- Perches in trees
- Migration
- Resident (barely migrates)
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 216 mm
- Tail
- 138 mm
- Bill
- 27 mm
- Tarsus
- 29 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Oriental, Australasia, Pacific Ocean: Philippines to Samoa (central Polynesia)
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Pigeons, Doves Columbidae
- Genus
- Columba
Other birds in the genus Columba
Rock DoveColumba livia
Hill PigeonColumba rupestris
Snow PigeonColumba leuconota
Speckled PigeonColumba guinea
White-collared PigeonColumba albitorques
Stock DoveColumba oenas
Yellow-eyed PigeonColumba eversmanni
Somali PigeonColumba oliviae
Common Wood PigeonColumba palumbus
Trocaz PigeonColumba trocaz
Bolle's PigeonColumba bollii
Laurel PigeonColumba junoniae
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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Bird Explorers. ↗
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