Today we’re staying in Papua New Guinea to meet another bird evolution had its way with: the Pheasant Pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis).
Now, you know me, I love a handsome Pigeon. Hell, I even love an ugly Pigeon. Our Pigeon stance is generally pretty pro. The Pheasant Pigeon, though, is especially handsome. They’re one of the larger species of Pigeon and they live almost exclusively on the forest floor, where they struct about looking gorgeous and eating any fallen fruit that happens to cross their path.
Sometimes the name of a bird can be misleading, but in this case, it tells us a lot. Aside from looking an awful lot like a Pheasant, this Pigeon also has a similar lifestyle. Indeed, it is their shared lifestyle that has resulted in their Pheasant-like appearance. In particular, they have a more robust, rounded bearing; their tail feathers have fanned out; and while they maintain the ability to fly, they are not strong and agile aeronauts like their other Pigeon brethren.
As it turns out, New Guinea is mostly free of Pheasants and other large jungle fowl, and as we know, nature abhors a vacuum. The Pheasant Pigeon saw a niche in the forest ecosystem ripe for exploitation, and so millions of years ago, they flew down from the trees and declared to the forest that they were going to become a Pheasant. The forest naturally didn’t care and continued doing whatever it is forests do. The Pigeon stood around awkwardly for a couple of minutes and when it realised no-one was going to stop it, it went ahead and became a Pheasant. The fact that New Guinea is also free of terrestrial predators meant they could become as plump a Pigeon as they wanted, without fear of being hunted.
And let me tell you, they wanted to be plump.
07/11/21
Bird of the Week 