Whistling Dove
Conservation status
Near Threatened
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae Genus: Ptilinopus Species: P. layardi
Binomial name
Ptilinopus layardi Elliot, 1878
Synonyms
Chrysoenas layardi The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn3. ... Near Threatened (NT) is an conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa which may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Digimon, the only known animals. ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... “Aves” redirects here. ... Families Raphidae Columbidae The order Columbiformes includes two families of birds: the Raphidae, to which the extinct Dodo and Rodrigues Solitaires belonged, and the Columbidae, which includes the very widespread and successful doves and pigeons. ... Pigeon redirects here. ... Species Ptilinopus jambu Ptilinopus layardi Ptilinopus magnificus Ptilinopus porphyreus Ptilinopus roseicapilla Ptilinopus superbus . ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. ...

The Whistling Dove, Ptilinopus layardi is a small fruit dove from Fiji. The species is endemic to the islands of Kadavu and Ono in the Kadavu Group in the south of Fiji. It is the most primitive of the "golden doves" a small subgroup of the genus Ptilinopus which includes two other small Fijian fruit doves, the Golden Dove and the Orange Dove. The group was once split into its own genus, Chrysoenas. The species has two other common names, the Velvet Dove and the Yellow-headed Dove. In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... Kadavu (IPA: []), with an area of 411 square kilometers, is the fourth largest island in Fiji, and the largest island in the Kadavu Group, a volcanic archipelago consisting of Kadavu, Ono, Galoa and a number of smaller islands in the Great Astrolabe Reef. ... Ono Island is a member of the Kadavu Group, an outlier to Kadavu Island, to the south of Viti Levu, one of Fijis two main islands. ... The Kadavu Group is an archipelago south of Viti Levu, one of Fijis two main islands. ... For other uses of the word, please see Genus (disambiguation). ...

The Whistling Dove is a small dove (20cm) that is sexually dimorphic in its velvety plumage. The plumage of the male is dark green with a yellow head and undertail coverts, the female lacks the yellow plumage. They are difficult to see in the forest canopy, but can be found due to their distinctive whistling call, a clear rising whistle followed by a falling 'tinkle' (Pratt et al 1987). The species feeds on fruits in the canopy. Closeup on a single white feather A feather is one of the epidermal growths that forms the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on a bird. ... Bird songs are certain vocal sounds that birds make—in non-technical use, those sounds that are melodious to the human ear. ...

The breeding of this species has not been studied much, a nest described in 1982 was a 'loose thin platform' constructed with twig-like vines 3m above the ground (Beckon 1982). When breeding only the female takes care of the young, an unusual adaption within the pigeon family. This difference in the levels of parental care has been suggested as an explnation of the sexual dimorphism in the golden doves. A single nestling was described. In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is 1) a rank or 2) a taxon in that rank. ...

The Whistling Dove is considered near threatened by the IUCN. The species is currently common in the forests of Kadavu and Ono, with an estimated population of 10,000 birds (BirdLife Intenational 2006). However it has a restriced range and it is declining due to habitat loss. The World Conservation Union or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... This article is in need of attention. ...

References

• Pratt, H., Bruner, P & Berrett, D. (1987) The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific Princeton University Press:Princeton ISBN 0-691-08402-5
• Beckon, W (1982) "A breeding record of the Whistling Dove of Kadavu, Fiji" Notornis 29(1): 1-7 [1]
• BirdLife International (2006) Species factsheet: Ptilinopus layardi. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 17/9/2006