Blue-crowned Pigeon
(Goura cristata)

Also known as:  Common crowned pigeon, great goura, western crowned pigeon, and masked pigeon

NOTE:  The Blue-crowned pigeon is classified as Vulnerable to Extinction on the IUCN Red list 2004 and is listed on Appendix II of CITES

Native to New Guinea, the blue-crowned pigeon is the largest species of pigeon in the world and it is also one of the most beautiful.  With alluring blue feathers and a deep purple patch across the shoulders, males and females look similar.  Males are often larger than females.  The finishing touches to this bird are the mask of dark blue feathers extending from the slender bill through the red eye, and the fan-like crest of lacy light blue feathers on top of the small head.  Males do sing as most pigeons do, but the Crowned Pigeons make a boom sound rather than the coo sound heard in most other pigeons.  The loud sound of a male Crowned Pigeon is a series of low notes which sound very similar to "boom boom, boom boom," two loud notes in rapid succession.  This species is omnivorous, eating fruits, seeds, and insects.  Crowned Pigeons essentially eat the same grains one would feed any domestic or exotic pigeon or game bird, but they love diced apple, banana, and grapes.  Practically any chopped fruit offered will be accepted.  (Grated cheese can be fed sparingly.)

For breeding, these birds create a large platform-like nest in a tree where the female lays only one egg.  Due too their slow reproductive nature (raising only one or two young per year) they have never been very common in captivity.  Once a pair of Crowned Pigeons is established and breeding, they may breed regularly for many years.  The white egg is about the size of a chicken egg and hatches after 30 days of incubation.  The young pigeon remains in the nest, cared for by both parents, for an additional 30 days.  Once the young pigeon leaves the nest, it is dependent on the parents for food for an additional month.  So the entire process of raising a single Crowned Pigeon takes no less than 3 months to complete.  Hand raising Crowned Pigeons has always been extremely difficult, and rarely successful.  The critical and difficult period is when the chick reaches the 21st day.  For unknown reasons that particular period in the young bird's development is very critical and dangerous.  This is not unique to Crowned Pigeons, as nearly all exotic pigeons are very difficult to raise from day one.  A young bird reaches sexual maturity at about 2 years of age though many individuals will not breed until they are much older.  They have been recorded as still breeding in their mid-twenties.