Band-tailed Pigeon

In many ways reminiscent of it’s more widely distributed relative the Rock Pigeon, the Band-tailed Pigeon is similar in size and posture, movements, and reproductive and feeding behaviour. It is equally a generalist, able to nest and feed in towns and near farms as well as in distant forests. Band-tailed Pigeons inhabit dry montane forests of 4 states in the southwestern U.S. (the interior region) south into Middle and South America, and also the wetter Pacific Coast region, including the Coast Range and western Cascade Range from the tip of southeastern Alaska through California into northern Baja.

Adult Male (spring/summer)

Head purple-gray; nape with white crescent subtended by distinct patch of greenish-bronze iridescent feathers, each sharply edged with dark, producing scale like pattern; upperparts blue gray; purplish gray throat and belly. The upper part of the tail is gray fading to a pale gray band at the tip. The eye dark; bill yellow with black tip and yellow legs. Adult males average up to 7% greater mass than adult females.

Adult Female (spring/summer)

Female’s duller overall, with narrower white crescent and less extensive iridescence on nape.

Juvenile

All gray and narrow white crescent on nape absent.

General:

A large and lanky pigeon with relatively long tail; our largest pigeon. Length 33-40cm. Wing: 66cm. Weight:342-362grams.

Behaviour:

These forest pigeons spend much of their time travelling in groups and their flight is strong, direct, and very swift, like that of a rock dove. At nesting time, flocks break up into pairs; from a conspicuous perch in treetop, male frequently utters a deep, mellow, owl-like ‘whoo-whoo-hoo’ or a two-syllabled ‘whoo-uh! Feeds on the ground and in shrub and eats nuts, berries, seeds, waste grain, and especially in the fall and winter, acorns. Individuals travel long distances daily to feed and are readily attracted to grain fields and fruit orchards dispersed below the forested foothills where they live.

Habitat:

Lives in woods and in mountains with tendency to alight in trees; frequents water holes and salt licks in large flocks. Flocks are fond of perching for long periods of time in tops of tall trees. It can be found in coniferous forests along the northwestern Pacific Coast, but in the southwester part of its range it prefers oak woodlands or pine-oak forests where it can feed on acorns.

Information:

As with other pigeons and doves, the Band-tailed Pigeon has a long nesting season across its range. Adults are presumably monogamous, and most clutches have only 1 egg. In contrast to long-standing suspicion, recent research has revealed that some nesting pairs complete up to 3 nest cycles a year. Its song is a series of 2-syllable, low frequency coos that may be heard up to 300m in closed forest. Its nest is typical for pigeons, a seemingly haphazard layer of sticks that look as if they provide little protection to egg or nestling (squab). Both parents incubate the egg and brood the squab. Nestlings are fed curd like crop milk formed from the inside lining of the crop of both parents. Adults, especially in summer and particularly in the Pacific Coast region, frequently visit natural spring and water bodies high in mineral salts, where they rapidly peck at the soil or drink water intermittently, with long bouts of roosting in nearby trees.

Similar species:

Conservation Status:

Low estimated hunting mortality and longevity up to 22 years suggest that hunting under present conditions has little effect on population trends over large areas, but this remains speculative. Breeding Bird Surveys show numbers decreasing at an average annual rate of 2.8% across its North American range since 1966. Listed as Least Concern.

Capture Rates

Band-tailed Pigeons are present in large flocks at Colony Farm, however remain difficult to capture due to their ability to escape from our songbird mist nets.

Molt Summary:

PF: HY/SY incomplete/complete, PB: AHY/ASY incomplete/complete; PA absent
replacement of pp during preformative begins 1-2 months after hatching and can take 10 months to complete.
Molting of pp in both age groups occurs year round (most commonly in Jul-Nov)
Outermost 1-2 pp and/or 1-5 ss sometimes can be retained during both preformative and adult PBs.

Juv (Jan-Dec)

Juveniles are uniformly brownish gray and lack the hindneck markings of adults, have uniformly juvenal secondaries and pale edging to the feathers of the upperparts.

HY/SY (Feb-following Aug)

This likely SY female in August is showing an obvious molt limit between retained outer primaries and replaced inner secondaries and the outermost secondary (S1) ) growing (red arrow).

Notice the tapered and brownish outer juvenal primaries with pale, rusty edging. As BTPI can breed year round assigning age classifications are complicated.

Juveniles are uniformly brownish gray and lack the hindneck markings of adults, have uniformly juvenal secondaries and pale edging to the feathers of the upperparts.

This likely SY female in August is showing an obvious molt limit between retained outer primaries and replaced inner secondaries and the outermost secondary (S1) ) growing (red arrow).

Notice the tapered and brownish outer juvenal primaries with pale, rusty edging. As BTPI can breed year round assigning age classifications are complicated.

Adults have obvious hindneck markings lacking in juveniles – adult males (2 photos immediately below) have deep pinkish/purple heads, crowns and necks, a relatively broad white nape band and extensive iridescent green patch extending to the bends of the wings.

The photo below shows the right wing of the above AHY male. Adult primaries, secondaries and wing coverts are slaty blue or blue/black and truncate. Notice the very truncate primary coverts of this bird and the obvious contrast between retained outer primaries and replaced inner primaries and secondaries.