Pink Pigeon

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Columba (Streptopelia) mayeri

Thanks to the dedicated work of conservationists, the pink pigeon has been saved from extinction, and numbers have dramatically increased over the last decade. But without continued intensive management, including a captive breeding program, the species would be likely to become extinct. A close relative of the abundant and widespread wood pigeon of Europe and parts of Asia, the pink pigeon is one of the most attractive members of the large family of pigeons and doves. This group has suffered more than most from extinction, with almost a third of the 309 surviving species classified as Threatened or Lower Risk, near threatened. Over 80 percent of them are island species, as were all but one of the 13 species of pigeons and doves that have recently become extinct. The pink pigeon is found only on the island of Mauritius and the neighboring Ile aux Aigrettes. Discoveries of bones of the birds indicate that it was once widespread in forests throughout the whole of Mauritius. Now it is confined to the southwestern part of the island. The precarious position the species is in today is entirely due to a variety of human factors.

Multiple Threats

Along with many other unique animals and plants, the pink pigeon has suffered from the massive destruction of the native forests of Mauritius by colonists from the late 18th century onward. Uncontrolled hunting also played its part in reducing the species to a perilously low and fragmented population. In addition, the pink pigeon-and other unique Mauritian wildlife has been affected by predation by the legion of animals deliberately introduced or accidentally brought to the island by sailors and settlers. They include the crab-eating macaque, originally from Southeast Asia, which preys on adult pigeons, also taking eggs and young from their nests. The small Indian mongoose, which was introduced to control black rats, also preys on young pigeons.

However, black rats that take the pigeon’s eggs and young have survived and prospered; feral cats are also predators of pigeons. Other threats affecting the birds include disease and shortages of suitable food in late winter. The remaining small and fragmented populations and their forest habitat are increasingly at the mercy of tropical cyclones that hit the island from time to time. Winds blowing at up to 155 miles per hour (250 km/h) or more not only damage the forest by stripping trees of the shoots and fruit on which the pigeons feed but also blow down the bird’s nests. By 1990, as a result of all these factors, the total world population of this once common species was reduced to just 10 individuals, all of which nested in a single grove of introduced Japanese red cedar trees. Rescue Plans The pink pigeon has been the focus of a major international rescue program for many years. It has involved sponsorship by BirdLife International (a global partnership of conservation organizations), the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the New York Zoological Society.

There is also a long-term program of research and rescue involving the Mauritian government working together with several zoos-the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Vogelpark Walsrode in Germany, and the New York and Alberquerque zoos. Attempts at captive breeding at the zoos began in the mid-1970s. Careful reintroduction into the wild has recently helped achieve a dramatic increase in the pigeon’s numbers. Other elements in the program include restoring habitat, controlling introduced predators and guarding nests to prevent predation, rescuing eggs and young from failing nests, providing the birds with extra food, and controlling disease. The rescue program came barely in time to save the pink pigeon. The intensive management has seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of the pigeons. A few more years of decline and the species would probably have suffered the same fate as its closest relative, the long extinct Reunion pigeon.

Pink pigeon (Mauritius pink pigeon, chestnut-tailed pigeon)
Columba (Streptopelia) mayeri

• Family: Columbidae
• World population: 360-380 birds
• Distribution: Restricted to 4 sites in southwestern Mauritius and introduced to lie aux Aigrettes, off eastern coast
• Habitat: Subtropical evergreen forests, including remnant native trees and introduced species, most pairs nest in introduced Japanese red cedars
• Size: Length: 14-14.8 in (36-40 cm). Weight: male 8.5-14.5 oz (240-410 g); female 7.5-13 oz (213-369 g)
• Form: Slightly larger than feral pigeon, with smaller head, larger body, and broad, rounded wings; plumage pink white; duskier on upper back, belly, flanks, and undertail; rest of upperparts and wings dark chocolate brown; primary flight feathers darker; lower back and rump blue gray; uppertail coverts and tail red-orange or chestnut; eyes surrounded by red ring of bare skin with white or pale-yellow iris; bill red at base with a yellow or creamy tip; red feet
• Diet: Wide variety of fruit and berries as well as leaves and flowers
• Breeding: Nest is platform of twigs; 2 white eggs incubated for 13-18 days; young fledge in about 20 days
• Related endangered species: Sixty one species of pigeons are threatened, including 17 other species in the genus Columba: silvery wood pigeon (C. argentina); yellow-legged pigeon (C. pallidiceps) ; white-tailed laurel pigeon (C. junoniae) ; maroon pigeon (C. thomensis); and Sri Lanka wood pigeon (C. torringtoni)

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