Japanese Wood-pigeon
Encyclopedia
The Japanese Wood Pigeon (Columba janthina) is a species of bird
in the Columba
genus in the Columbidae family. It is found in China
, Japan
, Southern part of Korean peninsula
, Russia
, and Taiwan
. They are believed to be the largest representative of the genus Columba
, at 550 grams (1.2 lb) and 43 cm (17 in).
Its natural habitat
s are temperate forest
s and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss. The species is in decline owing to habitat degradation, deforestation and hunting. This Wood Pigeon is endemic
to the Laurel forest
habitat.
Very dark in appearance, with small head, longish neck and tail. Overall the body is soot-black with iridescent green or purple on crown, shoulders and sides of neck. The irises are brown and have red color legs, having a rather long tail. Whole body is covered with shiny black feathers. Its inconspicuous plumage is mainly black with the crown and rump bright metallic purple. The back and chest have green purple metallic sheen.
Bill is longish, narrow and dark. The beak is greenish blue. Tip of the beak is ivory to pale yellow. Fleshy covering on the beak (cere) is small.
This species has no sexual dimorphism, the sexes are similar in appearance, but the juvenile has generally paler plumage
, with limited or no development of the pale yellow neck patch. Tarsi are red in adults while paler in juveniles. Appears like a crow in flight, with large wings and slightly fanned tail.
, the Korea
and Japan
. More abundant in the past and with a greater range still thought it is a resident on 15 islands and islets.
It occurs locally on small islands off the south coast of South Korea. In Korea, this bird is distributed and nest in Ulleungdo
Island, Jeju-do
and some area of south coast. It has been recorded as vagrant in eastern Russia
, Shandong
, mainland China and Taiwan
.
Columba janthina is an uncommon and local resident in Japan, on small islands off southern Honshu
, Shikoku
and Kyushu
, south through the Nansei-Shoto islands in the Ryukyu Islands
to the Yaeyama Islands
and the Izu Islands to the Ogasawara and Iwo Islands. Distributed in Hunshu region of Japan. Although it is still relatively common on the Izu Islands
, it has apparently declined there since the 1950s, it was thought to have declined on Okinawa during the 1980s because of forestry activities. The subspecies Columba janthina nitens, which occur on the Ogasawara and Iwo
Islands, is almost certainly extinct.
, Yellow Sea
, and East China Sea
. It is mainly an isolated island Wood Pigeon, a robust and confident forest bird with the same characteristics of other Columba genus pigeons adapted to habitat and vegetation of Islanders laurel forest or tropical or subtropical forest itself. Like some islanders races of Common Wood Pigeon and some species of Macaronesian or pacific islands Wood Pigeons has a low rate of reproduction.
Most of the Wood Pigeon's diet is vegetable, although food habits in Columba janthina are defined as omnivorous. It eats worm
s and small snails... but with strong trend to eat plants, leaves, flowers, drupe
s, berries, fruit
, acorn
s, pine nuts and other conifer seeds, Kurogane mochi or (Ilex rotunda), mochi-no-ki (Ilex Integra
), Sazanqua Camellia sasanqua
, Tsubaki
Camellia japonica
, mulberry
tree, ficus
, Machilus thunbergii, Nandinia domestica... This bird eats seeds varied, buds and fruit it collects directly from the trees. Feeding on trees and do well in soil. It have a preference for trees near ponds and rivers.
A resident breeder in laurisilva
forests, the Wood Pigeon lays one white egg
in a flimsy twig nest.
The nest is located in a tree cavity or in the rocks. Lays eggs one at a time in September. Spawning has only one egg. This species occurs most frequently lonely. Gliding and slowly soaring flight through repeated. Flight is quick and performed by regular beats. An occasional sharp flick of the wings is characteristic of pigeons in general.
This Wood Pigeon live in dense subtropical forests. It also live in beaches and islands in the evergreen broadleaf forest
. It inhabits dense subtropical forest and warm temperate evergreen broadleaf forests, and is heavily dependent on mature forest, whose seeds were dispersed by this birds that eat the berries. It browses on leaves and buds, especially nitrogen rich foliage during breeding. The diet changes seasonally as the availability of fruit changes, and leaves can comprise the major part of the diet at certain times of the year, such as when there is little fruit around. It caught flowers and buds at the tips of the branches. One of their favourite leaves to eat is from prunus
genus, young shoots from asteraceae
, caryophyllaceae
, and cruciferous
, rounded and fleshy leaves of ilex.
They play an important ecological role, as they are the only birds capable of eating the largest native fruits and drupe
s from some native trees. Its numbers fell sharply after human colonisation of the archipelago
s, and it vanished altogether from some Islands. The major cause of its population decline was habitat loss
from forest clearance, but hunting and nest predation by Introduced species
and rats were also contributory factors. Protection of the laurel forests and a ban on hunting could enabled numbers to increase, although this species is still endangered.
Columba janthina is a type of Wood Pigeon that normally habitates on a Camellia japonica
Linne but lives on a Machilus thunbergii forest in Korea. For that reason, the distribution of the Machilus thunbergii and the Japanese Wood pigeon are closely related and the preservation of Machilus thunbergii is directly connected with protection of Japanese Wood pigeon. Environment of Japanese Wood pigeon is in silver magnolia of seaside to eat fruits of a silver magnolia between the late July and the late August.
The growing site of silver magnolia which is naturally growing in the coast of Sa-dong, Nam-myeon, Ulleungdo Island, is the representative place of the Japanese Wood Pigeon's migration. Therefore, this region is designated and is protected as a Natural Monument in order to protect Japanese Wood pigeon.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the Columba
Columba (genus)
The large bird genus Columba comprises a group of medium to large stout-bodied pigeons, often referred to as the typical pigeons. The terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used indiscriminately for smaller and larger Columbidae, respectively...
genus in the Columbidae family. It is found in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Southern part of Korean peninsula
Korean Peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. They are believed to be the largest representative of the genus Columba
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
, at 550 grams (1.2 lb) and 43 cm (17 in).
Its natural habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s are temperate forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss. The species is in decline owing to habitat degradation, deforestation and hunting. This Wood Pigeon is endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
to the Laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
habitat.
Description
The largest pigeon in the East Asia region, with a length of between 37cm to 40cm long and sometimes 43.5cm. The head is small. There is at least three sub-species of Columba janthina, with some plumage differences.Very dark in appearance, with small head, longish neck and tail. Overall the body is soot-black with iridescent green or purple on crown, shoulders and sides of neck. The irises are brown and have red color legs, having a rather long tail. Whole body is covered with shiny black feathers. Its inconspicuous plumage is mainly black with the crown and rump bright metallic purple. The back and chest have green purple metallic sheen.
Bill is longish, narrow and dark. The beak is greenish blue. Tip of the beak is ivory to pale yellow. Fleshy covering on the beak (cere) is small.
This species has no sexual dimorphism, the sexes are similar in appearance, but the juvenile has generally paler plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
, with limited or no development of the pale yellow neck patch. Tarsi are red in adults while paler in juveniles. Appears like a crow in flight, with large wings and slightly fanned tail.
- Columba janthina janthina Karasubato. The head is covered with black feathers. Color light blue and dark blue beak.
- Columba janthina nitens The head is covered with purple-red feathers. The beak is black color. It has reddish or purplish coloration on face, head and upper back of neck.
Distribution
This bird lives in small islands along the ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. More abundant in the past and with a greater range still thought it is a resident on 15 islands and islets.
It occurs locally on small islands off the south coast of South Korea. In Korea, this bird is distributed and nest in Ulleungdo
Ulleungdo
Ulleungdo is a South Korean island in the Sea of Japan . Formerly known as Dagelet to the Europeans, Ulleungdo is about 120 km east of the Korean Peninsula...
Island, Jeju-do
Jeju-do
Jeju-do is the only special autonomous province of South Korea, situated on and coterminous with the country's largest island. Jeju-do lies in the Korea Strait, southwest of Jeollanam-do Province, of which it was a part before it became a separate province in 1946...
and some area of south coast. It has been recorded as vagrant in eastern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
, mainland China and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Columba janthina is an uncommon and local resident in Japan, on small islands off southern Honshu
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
and Kyushu
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, south through the Nansei-Shoto islands in the Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
to the Yaeyama Islands
Yaeyama Islands
The Yaeyama Islands are a group of islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.The isles are the remotest part of Japan from the main islands and contains Japan's most southern and most western inhabited islands.The islands form the southern part of the volcanic Nansei Islands...
and the Izu Islands to the Ogasawara and Iwo Islands. Distributed in Hunshu region of Japan. Although it is still relatively common on the Izu Islands
Izu Islands
The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōshima....
, it has apparently declined there since the 1950s, it was thought to have declined on Okinawa during the 1980s because of forestry activities. The subspecies Columba janthina nitens, which occur on the Ogasawara and Iwo
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
Islands, is almost certainly extinct.
Ecology
It is a pigeon which is endemic to some islands of Sea of JapanSea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
, Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
, and East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
. It is mainly an isolated island Wood Pigeon, a robust and confident forest bird with the same characteristics of other Columba genus pigeons adapted to habitat and vegetation of Islanders laurel forest or tropical or subtropical forest itself. Like some islanders races of Common Wood Pigeon and some species of Macaronesian or pacific islands Wood Pigeons has a low rate of reproduction.
Most of the Wood Pigeon's diet is vegetable, although food habits in Columba janthina are defined as omnivorous. It eats worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s and small snails... but with strong trend to eat plants, leaves, flowers, drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
s, berries, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s, pine nuts and other conifer seeds, Kurogane mochi or (Ilex rotunda), mochi-no-ki (Ilex Integra
Ilex integra
The Ilex integra or mochi tree is an ornamental tree of the holly genus, which is native to parts of Asia, including Korea; Taiwan; the mid-southern regions of China; and Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan. Its flower is light yellow...
), Sazanqua Camellia sasanqua
Camellia sasanqua
The Christmas Camellia is a species of Camellia native to the evergreen coastal forests of southern Japan in Shikoku, Kyūshū and many other minor islands as far south as Okinawa. It is usually found growing up to an altitude of 900 metres.It is an evergreen shrub growing to 5 m tall...
, Tsubaki
Camellia
Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalaya east to Korea and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number...
Camellia japonica
Camellia japonica
The Japanese Camellia is one of the best known species of camellia. Sometimes called the rose of winter, it is a member of the Theaceae family or tea family. It is a flowering shrub or a small tree native to Japan, Korea and China. It is the official state flower of Alabama.-Description:In the...
, mulberry
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
tree, ficus
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
, Machilus thunbergii, Nandinia domestica... This bird eats seeds varied, buds and fruit it collects directly from the trees. Feeding on trees and do well in soil. It have a preference for trees near ponds and rivers.
A resident breeder in laurisilva
Laurisilva
Laurisilva or laurissilva is a subtropical forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterised by evergreen, glossy-leaved tree species that look alike with leaves of lauroide type...
forests, the Wood Pigeon lays one white egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
in a flimsy twig nest.
The nest is located in a tree cavity or in the rocks. Lays eggs one at a time in September. Spawning has only one egg. This species occurs most frequently lonely. Gliding and slowly soaring flight through repeated. Flight is quick and performed by regular beats. An occasional sharp flick of the wings is characteristic of pigeons in general.
This Wood Pigeon live in dense subtropical forests. It also live in beaches and islands in the evergreen broadleaf forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
. It inhabits dense subtropical forest and warm temperate evergreen broadleaf forests, and is heavily dependent on mature forest, whose seeds were dispersed by this birds that eat the berries. It browses on leaves and buds, especially nitrogen rich foliage during breeding. The diet changes seasonally as the availability of fruit changes, and leaves can comprise the major part of the diet at certain times of the year, such as when there is little fruit around. It caught flowers and buds at the tips of the branches. One of their favourite leaves to eat is from prunus
Prunus
Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. There are around 430 species spread throughout the northern temperate regions of the globe. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for fruit and ornament.-Botany:Members of the genus...
genus, young shoots from asteraceae
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
, caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae
The Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactaceae and Polygonaceae...
, and cruciferous
Cruciferous vegetables
Vegetables of the family Brassicaceae are called cruciferous vegetables. The vegetables are widely cultivated, with many genera, species, and cultivars being raised for food production such as cauliflower, cabbage, cress, bok choy, broccoli and similar green leaf vegetables...
, rounded and fleshy leaves of ilex.
They play an important ecological role, as they are the only birds capable of eating the largest native fruits and drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
s from some native trees. Its numbers fell sharply after human colonisation of the archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
s, and it vanished altogether from some Islands. The major cause of its population decline was habitat loss
Habitat destruction
Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose of...
from forest clearance, but hunting and nest predation by Introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
and rats were also contributory factors. Protection of the laurel forests and a ban on hunting could enabled numbers to increase, although this species is still endangered.
Columba janthina is a type of Wood Pigeon that normally habitates on a Camellia japonica
Camellia japonica
The Japanese Camellia is one of the best known species of camellia. Sometimes called the rose of winter, it is a member of the Theaceae family or tea family. It is a flowering shrub or a small tree native to Japan, Korea and China. It is the official state flower of Alabama.-Description:In the...
Linne but lives on a Machilus thunbergii forest in Korea. For that reason, the distribution of the Machilus thunbergii and the Japanese Wood pigeon are closely related and the preservation of Machilus thunbergii is directly connected with protection of Japanese Wood pigeon. Environment of Japanese Wood pigeon is in silver magnolia of seaside to eat fruits of a silver magnolia between the late July and the late August.
The growing site of silver magnolia which is naturally growing in the coast of Sa-dong, Nam-myeon, Ulleungdo Island, is the representative place of the Japanese Wood Pigeon's migration. Therefore, this region is designated and is protected as a Natural Monument in order to protect Japanese Wood pigeon.
Classification
- Columba janthina janthina Japanese Wood Pigeon, Purple Pigeon, Temminck, 1830 Karasubato
- Columba janthina nitens Columba janthina nitens — Red-headed Wood-Pigeon, Quercus acuta Wood-Pigeon.
- Columba janthina stejnegeri Kuni Jonah Crow Dove.