Pale-capped Pigeon

The pale-capped pigeon, or purple wood pigeon, is a large pigeon, 36–40.5 cm long, all dark chestnut brown with a contrasting pale crown. It is mainly brown above and chestnut below with a sheen of green or amethyst. Males have a whitish-grey cap while females have a brownish-grey cap and less gloss. The legs are crimson and the iris creamy yellow in adults (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is very locally distributed across a broad range that takes in parts of northern and north-eastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It frequents a wide variety of habitats from the lowlands up to 1,600 m, chiefly primary or secondary evergreen forest. It has a slow flight and spends a lot of time sitting still in the foliage of large fruiting trees, often in riverine forest, forages in small groups in the canopy and sometimes drops to the ground for seeds and fallen fruit. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority, with a Restricted range of about 19,000 km² (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).