Home>>By Class>>Birds>>Landfowl

Treron phoenicoptera

2022-09-25 09:50:52 135

Treron phoenicoptera Life habits and morphological characteristics

The yellow-footed green pigeon is a medium-sized bird. The forehead, front of the eyes, chin, throat and front neck of the male bird are all yellow-green, and the rest of the head and neck are gray. There is a wide lemon yellow horizontal band on the back of the neck that extends to the entire upper chest on both sides, followed by a light purple blue-gray horizontal band that also extends downward to both sides and blends with the large blue-gray area on the lower chest and abdomen. The lower back to the waist is yellow olive green. The upper tail cover feathers are pure gray, the base of the tail feathers is olive yellow, and the tip is black. There are two obvious yellow horizontal spots on the wings. There is also a light purple-red spot on the wing corner, which is its unique feature. The lower chest and abdomen are light blue-gray, which is obviously different from other green pigeons. The perianal and leg cover feathers are bright yellow with white. The lower tail cover feathers

Treron phoenicoptera Distribution range and habitat

The Yellow-footed Green Pigeon is distributed in the Indian subcontinent and southwest China, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and China's southeastern coastal areas, Hong Kong, and Hainan Island.
The Yellow-footed Green Pigeon inhabits evergreen broad-leaved forests and shrubs at lower altitudes such as hills and foot plains, especially on trees with abundant wild fruits such as banyan trees, and sometimes appears on cultivated land at the edge of the forest.

Treron phoenicoptera Detailed Introduction

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, also known as Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, has 5 subspecies.

ed2e52215cbc360a5c693038807db092_九雷图片转化为.jpeg

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon often moves alone or in pairs, sometimes in small groups of 5-6, with a maximum of more than 10. In the early morning and evening, they like to stand on the branches at the top of the tree, especially on the dead branches without leaves, and sing. They are mostly active in the trees, and sometimes they hold a branch that hangs down to the water surface to drink water. They mainly feed on the fruits of banyan trees, and also eat the fruits of other plants. Sometimes they also eat the seeds of crops such as corn and grains, and the tender shoots of trees. They also go to the ground to peck sand and salty soil.

The breeding season of the yellow-footed green pigeon is from April to August, and they may breed twice a year. The male and female birds begin courtship activities in March, chasing each other on the branches of trees. The courtship behavior of the male bird mainly includes holding the chest high, lowering the wings, nodding continuously, and walking around the female bird, while making a "cooing" sound. The female bird also responds with similar actions. Usually they nest in pairs, and sometimes several pairs nest together. There have been records of three pairs nesting at the same time on a tree. The nest is very simple and built on the branches of trees. It is mainly made of dead branches and is shaped like a shallow disk. Each nest lays 2 eggs, occasionally as few as 1 and as many as 3. The eggs are broadly oval in shape, white, smooth and spotless. The male and female birds take turns to incubate the eggs. The incubation period is 14 days.

During the brooding period of pigeons, pigeon milk is secreted under the action of prolactin (also known as prolactin) secreted by the posterior pituitary gland. Pigeon milk is composed of fat particles, emulsified fat chyme and lymph fluid secreted by the proliferating flat epithelium in the bilateral lateral sac lymphatic area of female and male pigeons, that is, the crop bed lymphatic area. After the colostrum period, chyme rich in emulsified fat particles is gradually added. The epithelial lymph papilla of the crop bed generally begins to sprout on the 4th to 5th day after the start of the incubation state. The crop bed of male and female pigeons begins to move, the blood vessels of the crop bed become congested and thickened, and the lymphatic vessels proliferate. By the 8th to 9th day, the crop epithelium thickens and enters the pre-brooding state. On the 13th day, its thickness and width have increased by 1 time. On the 14th to 16th day, it can secrete transparent slightly yellow pigeon milk. On the 18th day, the crop can secrete crop milk. However, on the 7th day after the squab hatches, the amount of crop milk secretion begins to decrease, and the secretion stops on the 10th day. The crop bed begins to shrink and the secretion of pigeon milk gradually stops when the squab continues to hatch until about 2 weeks old. The semi-finished chyme ground by the gizzard from the glandular stomach is gradually mixed into the chyme, and then it becomes a granular feed mixed with water for direct feeding. If the eggs fail to hatch on time, the best hatching pigeons can continue to hatch until the 22nd-24th day (these are all related to the hatching nature of the pigeons, the hatching season, the feedback of embryonic development information, the frequency of hatching of the chicks, etc. In the cold winter and spring and the brooding period, the incubation period will be automatically extended, and it is often difficult to persist in the hot summer days). At this time, the brooding pigeons will automatically stop hatching with the shrinkage of the crop bed.

The number of yellow-footed green pigeons was relatively large in the rain forests and monsoon forests in western and southwestern Yunnan in the 1950s and early 1960s. It was rarely seen in the surveys in the 1970s and 1980s, and there were still a certain number only in nature reserves. The reason is the destruction of habitats, the large-scale reclamation of tropical rain forests, and the planting of economic trees and crops such as rubber, which has reduced the habitat. Excessive hunting and indiscriminate hunting.


Listed in China's national key protection level: Level 2 Effective date: 1989
Listed in the "China Red Book of Endangered Animals" level: Vulnerable Effective date: 1996

Listed in the "World Conservation Union" (IUCN) 2013 Red List of Endangered Species ver3.1 - Least Concern (LC).

Listed in the "China National Key Protected Wildlife List" Level 2.


Protect wild animals and stop eating game.

Maintaining ecological balance is everyone's responsibility!