‘Victoria Crowned Pigeon’, The Beautiful Bird That Can Grow To The Size Of A Turkey

By. Anuradha

No one can ever do justice in describing the beauty of nature. There are so many unknown creatures, rare species and wonderfully amazing sights that you might not have seen even in a picture. The bird that we are going to show you now also belong to this category!

The Victoria Crowned Pigeon is a spectacular bird indeed! Even though it is called as a pigeon, this bird will look nothing like a pigeon at all! It has a distinct blue color along with a dazzling crown on top of its head! This amazing bird has bright blue feathers and belongs to a Goura family of four unique looking, ground-dwelling pigeon species. Even though a normal pigeon would not grow that much, Victoria Crowned Pigeon can grow up to the size of a Turkey!

Image credits: The Virginia Zoo

You will find them particularly in the New Guinea region and their name also has a history. This species got their name from British queen Victoria who ruled the UK in the last decades of the nineteenth century.

Image credits: The Virginia Zoo

Image credits: Laura Wolf

However, it will not be easy to spot them as they are mostly wildly bred. However, deforestation has become a great threat to its growth. The most unfortunate thing is that this species is now included in IUCN Red List of threatened species as nearly threatened. The most critical condition is that their females lay only one egg per mating season and that doesn’t really help the growth of the species.

Image credits: Laura Wolf

Image credits: Sandy Cole

Another interesting fact about this species is their mating dance. The male bird approaches the female showing off I best feature- the crown. They also produce an enchanting sound and you would even love the rhythmically swinging dance the bird makes. With this magic, any female get easily caught in the male for sure!!