Ashy Wood Pigeon

The ashy wood pigeon is a large, dark forest pigeon with a contrasting pale grey head and nape, deep maroon-brown body plumage and a subtle green or amethyst gloss across the neck and upperparts. Adults have crimson legs and pale yellowish eyes; females are generally browner and less glossy than males. Its combination of a pale head, dark body and heavy wood-pigeon shape separates it from the more uniformly coloured imperial pigeons of the same forests (Wikipedia, general species account).

Across its range it inhabits temperate and montane forest from the Himalayas through southern China and northern mainland Southeast Asia to Taiwan. Birds feed mainly on fruit, berries and seeds in the canopy and may move locally as crops ripen. A simple twig platform supports one white egg in most clutches, although two have occasionally been recorded. Incubation lasts about 21–23 days, and the young leave the nest roughly 28 days after hatching (Wikipedia, general species account).