White-headed pigeons are a large and common pigeon, but not regularly seen by
most people in our area. They are around 40 centimetres long with grey wings and a
white neck and breast, which is slightly greyer in the females than the males.
They are secretive in their habits and prefer rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests,
so are limited to the escarpment and adjacent areas. Their range continues all the
way along the east coast of Australia in these habitats.
They suffered heavily in the 1800’s with the clearing of this habitat for farmland,
compounded by the fact they only have one chick per year. They recovered quite
well from the late 1800’s onwards though, as the introduced camphor laurel and
privet trees spread. These birds are mainly frugivores and they love the berries of
these trees, especially the camphor laurels, and it forms the major part of their diet.
However unlike other birds which are known to spread seeds through their
droppings, White-headed pigeons don’t spread camphor laurel seeds as they are
completely destroyed in the birds gizzard, and any parts of the seed expelled can’t
germinate.
This is a good thing because the birds, although usually occurring in small numbers,
will flock to fruiting camphor laurel trees, or under them, when the seeds have
dropped. They have also been known to eat the bark of melaleuca trees, and the
reasons for this is not quite fully known, but it is thought that it aids in the digestion of
a high fruit diet. For more on our wonderful birds see www.birdbites.com.au
This article first appeared in the High Country Herald on the 30th of July 2024