The back of its neck, upper tail and shoulders on its wings are white in males and grey in females, and across most of Australia the rest of its body is black. In south-eastern, central and south-western Australia, including Tasmania, its back and rump are entirely white. Its eye is red-brown. Young birds are usually grey rather than black and have dark eyes. Small insects and animals that live on, or just under, the surface of the ground, including grasshoppers, scarab beetles, insect larvae, frogs and small lizards.
During the day it walks along jabbing its beak into the ground, searching for food. Identification The Crested Pigeon is a stocky pigeon with a conspicuous thin black crest. Toggle Caption Crested Pigeon ud Habitat The Crested Pigeon is found in lightly wooded grasslands in both rural and urban areas.
Distribution The Crested Pigeon is native to Australia and is common throughout most of the mainland. Feeding and diet The Crested Pigeon's diet consists mostly of native seeds, as well as those of introduced crops and weeds. Life history cycle The nest of the Crested Pigeon is a delicate structure of twigs placed in a tree or dense bush.
Parrots and Pigeons of Australia. Back to top. Crested pigeons can be seen alone or in flock of thousands together. Their wings make a significant whistling and beating sound when they take off to fly. They are highly gregarious birds when seen with people. These birds are generally sedentary. They tend to breed mostly during spring and summer. They nest their younger ones in shrubs or trees.
They lay two eggs and these hatch almost three weeks after they are laid. Keep the bird cage clean, which includes daily washing of the cage, water and food dishes.
Keep an eye out for abnormal behavior such as sitting for long, closed eyes, and fluffed feather. Questions Asked. Quite disturbing. We suspect he had brain damage from the start, as he often was much clumsier than we thought he should be, and sometimes had trouble doing menial things. I really hate to think I may have shortened his life somehow. Did I do anything wrong? I did a fair bit of research before I set him up. He looked like a sail boat, and the first time he did it, he had us in stitches.
I have just watched the video, and that behavior with the wings is quite normal, mine used to do that and he was well. The easiest way to check for brain damage in any animal, including humans, is to shine a light in its eyes.
They can be totally alert in some things and completely stupid in others. Concussion is really common with lorikeets. This is a blog about birds seen in the wild — not about keeping birds in captivity. There are many pet shops which have websites so you would be better off checking them out. You could also look in your phone directory for the nearest pet shop or bird club.
May I remind you that there are many restrictions on keeping Australian native birds in captivity and that most species require a special permit.
In addition to that requirement, most species have very specific needs to be kept successfully in captivity, especially cage size, food, nesting requirements and so on. Crested Pigeons certainly fall into this category as far as I know.
I would suggest that you do your homework first. While it might be possible to buy and keep this species, expect to have a long search Australia wide, and be prepared to pay several hundred dollars for a breeding pair.
I have found a baby crested pigeon. I have no experience with birds but I spotted this one as a cat was playing with it in my back yard. It has not been harmed bu the cat, but I have no idea where its nest is located. I would like to care for it but as I feel that if nothing is done this bird will surely die. I am not sure what I should do.
I believe they eat seeds, but what kind of seeds and that they need to drink every day, but how do I give it a drink in bowl, in a something else I need advice can someone help please. Thanks Zoe. I found my crested pidgeon incredibly easy to care for. Use those two fingers to hold the bottom beak, and use a finger from your other hand to lift the tip up.
I found that my pidge never called out for food. He very rarely made quiet little peeps. I took to feeding him small amounts every hour. As far as bedding, I used an old icecream container, put shredded newspaper in it, and then covered it with tissues. I put a hot-water-bottle [warm, actually] underneath it, so that the nest was warm for him. Hi there Frank — welcome to my bird blog. Thanks for stopping by and leaving some comments. I really appreciate it. If I feed it morning and night will that be OK do you think?
I will stay in touch and hopefully I will come back with some good news. Cheers Frank. What Sarah said is good advice, but get in touch with a wildlife organisation in your area. I speak from experience.
The bird is blind and cannot feed itself of fly more than a few feet. We have been hand feeding it for nearly two years now and it has travelled all over Queensland sitting on the back of the car seat.
It is part of the family and I have no intention of handing it over to someone who is going to put it down. Years ago we picked up a starving dingo pup near Kajabbi and called it Kajabbi. We had Kajabbi for years and there was no way we were going to knock a native on the head. I was on the phone sitting outside this morning, when I felt something pecking at my toenails.
I looked down and it was a small crested pigeon. By looking thru all the comments, I think it is beyond the baby stage, and now a fledgling. The next thing I know is that it flew up on my shoulder and spent a few hours with me.
We wondered where the mother was, and, thinking that something must have happened to it, built a little nest in our sheltered BBQ area, and had to go out.
When we got back, it was gone. We thought that it must have found mum and taken off. Half an hour later, it was back on my shoulder, and is now, happily, on my step daughters head, watching her play on the Playstation. I have never seen anything like this. I had a budgie once that I tried to tame and never succeeded. This bird is so tame!!!!! I do not want to cage it, but like that it has come and gone and come back again.
I do hope it continues. Welcome to my blog about birds Denise. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your bizarre story. I suspect that it may be the latter — they are relatively common in aviaries. I think it is too young for having been hand reared,,, it still looks quite small and has, what I think, are juvenile feathers on its head quite spindly looking.
Is there any way that you can tell what sex it is? Sorry — the sexes are the same. The only sure way is a DNA test at a vet — that would cost heaps. Oh — there is a simpler way — if it lays an egg…. Denise, where abouts are you?
Sounds gorgeous! Are you feeding it? We are in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney. My husband went out and bought some wild seed mix, which is proving a challenge to it, so I got some organic multigrain bread soaked with water and it is liking that.
But it follows my daughter around the garden and pecks where she digs, so I guess it is at a stage where it can nearly feed itself. Just an update on Gussy, our crested pigeon that flew in a couple of weeks ago. What an extraordinary bird! He is now the king of our household. He has his place to sleep on the back of one of the dining chairs he follows me around the house, he plays on the computer he loves tapping the mouse and has navigated me away from pages that I am on , and he watches TV on top of any head that will have him.
As I am typing this, I am lying on the floor and he is having a little rest time watching. He still comes and goes as he pleases, and will often have the day out flying around the neighbourhood, but returns home before it gets dark. When he first arrived, he made quiet cheep cheep noises, but his voice appears to be breaking, and he is starting to do the woop woop noise and he has grown bigger. This suggests to me that he was a fledgling and is now becoming an adult.
So it is anyones guess to how he became so tame …. If she was with her parents still, I think she would be at the stage, where they would only feed her when she was realy hungry.
She is fully fleged but still wants me to feed her. If anyone can help please let me know. I can only imagine that something happened to him, or due to his tameness, landed in someone elses house and they have put him in a cage. In response to Geraldine, I did notice that some other crested pigeons that live around our house were not very nice to Gussy. Perhaps they are territorial, so I would not expect yours to just go and join a family.
But I think the cage door open sounds like a good idea…better than being locked up all its life and worth the risks… up to you though. Thanks Denise for your info. I am not sure, Geraldine. The bird we had flew in and I think it was already a fledgeling. But it did also like to be fed. My husband ran off to the shops and got some wild seed mix, but that was too challenging for it.
Canary or budgie food was the best. Sorry I cant help you further. Keep us posted to whats happening there. I found a crested pigeon only like 7 wks old it looked really cold so i took it home how do you feed it please send me another comment if you do know his becoming skinny!!
Hi there Sharon, can I suggest that you read through all the comments above to get some ideas on how to care for the bird you rescued. Its not very young, but how can we determine the age? Sarah — thanks for the comments and your question. Please read through the comments above and see what other people have done. I think your pigion is very sick, birds feathers stay fluffed up when they are not well. It might have been attacted by something or it might have a disease.
If it is smaller then an adult, you can buy a baby seed eating bird feed, from most pet shops. Good luck. That would be up to you or you can just let nature do what she does. Sorry I can help you with that. I have had 2 crested pigeons as pets. The first flew of one afternoon when I took him outside one day-he returned the next day.
Possible poisoning from gardening chemicals? The second one I found on the street sunning himself. He had a damaged wing and leg. After being caught, he settled down and made himself at home. The wing never healed to enable him to fly out of danger. He realised that he was when he was outside when he was let out in the garden.
At the first sign of danger he went straight to his cage. Regretfully,I had to move and could not keep him. Crested pigeon update. Hi there, A few years ago I wrote and told you I had a crested pigeon walk up to me and I took her home.
I still have her. She is even more affectionate than ever, although she hates my two boys with a passion. She will wait until they walk pass her and then either attack their feet from behind or land on their heads and give them a good pecking.
They both deserve it! She lays eggs with regularity. Before she lays one she is fluffy and cuddly. She is still very inquisitive and loves things that are shiny or brightly coloured colouring pencils etc.
I remember when I had Pug [strange name, but they do have squished faces! He was, really, a teenage boy embarrased that his voice was breaking. I remember when he first figured out how loud he could whoop at me, that he was strutting around the loungeroom for an hour with his chest puffed out, like he was king of the world.
I work at an animal park and we have the funniest crested pigeon. He views all of us as other males and tries to see us all off when we feed him. He runs so close to our feet that you have to be very careful not to step on him, and waits on the feed tray for when you stand up so he can hit you with his wing.
I recently started wearing a head scarf which he hated and sat on my head attacking it, so that had to go. He may not be as friendly as the ones above but certainly has personality and makes him one of my favourite animals in the park! She knows our place as a safe place. Sorry Geraldine I could find no reference in my library or on the internet for the longevity of Crested Pigeons.
I would guess that they must live for quite a few years in the wild, perhaps — but I am only guessing. Thanks Trevor, I hope she can live a long live here even after we have left, she is such a loving bird. Twice now he has told me when snakes were in the room, once in pitch blackness, and was very sweet after both times when I caught and removed the snakes.
Hi Trevor, I wrote to you a couple of years ago, about my white crested pigeon. I have been lucky to save 2 of these from the nest. The others unfortunately were taken by predators rats, other birds. My 3 white birds have all been hand raised, and live safely with me in the house, where we have 3 large parrot cages.
They are all pure white, and would have been killed by other birds if left in the wild. They are so affectionate and have become perfect pets.
They each answer to their names, and fly to me when called. We love them. Tonight my cat scared a crested pigeon into the house and so i caught it.
I put it into an old cage i had about 1 meter by. I am wondering if it will still be content and healthy living as a pet, or because it is a wild bird that it should go back to its natural habitat? Hi Trevor Remember me? Cheers Clem. I love reading the stories about the crested pigeons.
I feed a number of them in my Brisbane back yard. Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between a female bird and a male bird? I have one particular bird which often comes on his own and will now fly to me when I call him and I then throw seed to him.
Most of the others are more cautious. I found this site looking for info on crested pigeons as friend found one apparently fallen from nest or abandoned. Any ideas on what to feed it?? We have been having some success feeding commercial chicken crumbles dry and also made into a paste , but is not overly interested.
Any help appreciated! You can get some baby bird food, for seed eating birds, from a pet shop. You just let it keep sucking, till it has had enough. Both parents look after the young.
Thank you so much Geraldine. I rang WIRES and we got some parrot rearing formula and your info about feeding, your video and others found on youtube will be very helpful. Nice to see someone who cares about natures creatures. Hi Karen, Just recently I had the exact same experience as you described.
I was very surprised by the details coinciding. I would like to get in touch with yourself or someone who cares for Crested Pigeons. Kind regards, Edith. Hi, I had a crested pigeon as a pet. He fell from his nest when he was little and I raised him. But he got a respiratory infection and died on Saturday just as I was putting him in the car to take him to the vet. I really miss him and am looking for a new crested pigeon to love and look after. If anybody has one and they can no longer care for it please let me know or if anybody knows where I can get one please email me.
My pigeon was my pride and joy. He showered with me, slept on the end of my bed and I just want another one. My email address is greatape virginbroadband. I hope to hear from someone. I was just reading that your friend found an abandoned pigeon. I am wondering if they plan on keeping the little bird. I found one 4 years ago and hand raised it and it became my pride and joy.
But he got a respiratory infection Thursday night and died before I could get him to the vet. I am trying to find another crested pigeon to love and care for so I am asking if your friend is planning on keeping the little bird or would you consider giving it to someone else to raise and love. The one my friend found is going well and his kids are quiet attached to it, so no luck there sorry. I hope you find a bird that can benefit from your obvious care and love.
Regards, Caroline. Thankyou very much for replying. I hope I find another soon as I miss him so much but we will see what happens. I will let you know if I am successful. She is now bringing one of her babies here to feed along with all the other wild birds we feed. It is so nice to know that she has had at least one baby that has survived, out of the 3 nests of babies that we think she has had.
We think we have worked out why she started to attack us when we fed her. Our Cooee does the same thing. We call Cooee a girl, because the info we got when we found her, led us to think, it was a girl but now we believe Cooee is a boy, but we still say her. We noticed that she stated to show this behaviour after the first time that we thought she nested. We finally realised, that it is was a natural instinct of the parent bird, once their young were ready to look after themselves, which was about the time it started.
She started to do this, when she would have been weening her babies. I think we fulfil all the different element of a crested pigeon family. We feel very privileged. Hi, was wondering if there are crested pigeon breeders out there. A few weeks ago another pigeon turned up not a crested pigeon, someones pet pigeon he hung around because he fell in love with Woo but Woo HATES him and every time I pay attention to the new pigeon Woo gets mad!
I would like to own crested pigeons for the rest of my life, so knowing a breeder would be very helpful. There are no crested pigeon breeders that I am aware of. I have rung so many people since my pigeon died cause I want the joy of owning another one but everyone I speak to says they are illegal to sell cause they are native birds.
I dont understand how they can sell cockatoos etc but they can not sell crested pigeons. Especially since so many of us love them so much and wish we had more. Or in my case another one. If you do have any luck let me know cause I would pay alot for another crested pigeon. I wish i had found this site before my pigeon died as we may have been able to breed them ourselves knowing that their chicks would be free from predators. And if you ever find a friend for your pigeon and they successfully breed would you let me know.
I would happily buy another crested pigeon. My email address is listed above in a previous comment. Cheers April. Why dont you take Cooee with you. When my pigeon Foz was alive he was always an inside bird. But we moved twice. At boths houses he decided to go for a fly and both times he came back to the right house. Maybe if you can take Cooee with you and let him settle he may make a new home in Tassy with you.
I am currently raising a baby swan and I am hoping it will come back each year to visit. Good luck with Cooee. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that she will be OK when we go. Thanks for your good luck wish. Dear Trevor My name is Edith.
One day, as I was doing my early morning run, a crested pigeon flew right in front of me on the footpath, and started walking towards me. I bent down, talked to him, and I was thinking, the bird must be hungry. He came unusually close to me, I was able to touch his beak. I had nothing to offer, and regretfully continued my run. The bird followed me, flew up, and again, landed in front of me.
I kept running. Then, about m distance from the very spot where met, I have seen, as the bird makes a big circle, and landing in front of me for the third time. Then I decided, I will catch him. It was peculiar to see as he followed me. He must be asking for food. It was easy to catch him. I did not continue my run, I have turned right back home. He learnt to walk up the stairs, as he follows us everywhere in the house.
He is sitting on one of us shoulder, sleeping on our knee, wooing all the time to us. I can move large objects around him, like food processor, broom, etc. He has no fear at all!! He would be perished pretty soon over there. There are butcher birds, cats, dogs, chemicals in gardens, etc. He let everybody too close to himself. I was hoping, that Karen, who has similar experience with her crested pigeon, will contact me. I am looking for someone, who can foster my bird, as I am planning to travel.
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