Band-tailed pigeon

The band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) is a pigeon native to the Americas, and one of the largest pigeons in this region. It is largely gray, but with a thin white collar on the nape and a purple-gray breast.

Description

The band-tailed pigeon is one of the largest pigeons in the Americas, measuring long and weighing , with the males on average slightly larger than females, but with much overlap. Although sometimes cited as the largest North American pigeon, the red-billed pigeon (P. flavirostris) is about the same size, weighing .

The plumage is gray, somewhat darker above. The head and underparts have a faint pink cast, especially in the adult male; the belly is nearly white. The distal half of the tail is also pale (except in the subspecies of Baja California) with a darker gray band at the base, whence the English name. The bill and feet are yellow, good identification marks at sufficiently close range. Adults have green iridescence on the back of the neck, adjacent to the thin white collar on the nape. Juvenile birds have pale feather edges above, giving a scaly appearance, and lack the white collar and neck iridescence. they form two groups of three subspecies, with some authorities splitting these two groups into separate species, the northern band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata)

Northern group (Patagioenas fasciata sensu stricto):

Patagioenas fasciata monilis (N. A. Vigors, 1839) — Pacific Coast in southeast Alaska, western British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, and Baja California
Patagioenas fasciata fasciata (Say, 1822) — Interior western U.S. in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Mexico south to Nicaragua
Patagioenas fasciata vioscae (Brewster, 1888) — Sierra de la Laguna mountains in Baja California Sur

Southern group ("Patagioenas albilinea"):

Patagioenas fasciata crissalis (Salvadori, 1893) — Central America in Costa Rica and western Panama
Patagioenas fasciata albilinea (Bonaparte, 1854) — In the Andes Mountains of Colombia, Venezuela, northwestern Brazil, eastern Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina
Patagioenas fasciata roraimae (Chapman, 1929) — Tepuis of southern Venezuela (Mount Roraima)

The two groups differ in bill color; the northern group have a black tip to the yellow bill, while in the southern group, the bill is all-yellow. The southern group also have somewhat darker-toned plumage. and as a species of this genus, the band-tailed pigeon has been investigated for the potential use in efforts to bring back the passenger pigeon species.

The parasitic louse Columbicola extinctus, believed to have become extinct with the extinction of the passenger pigeon, was recently rediscovered on the band-tailed pigeon. It ranges from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, and southern Arizona south in higher elevations through Mexico and Central America and down the Andes to northern Argentina. It lives primarily in damp forests and conifer-oak woodlands of the western mountains and coasts.

Band-tailed pigeons are nomadic feeders, changing their diet along the seasons, and will travel up to away from their nests to feed. Subsequent broods may be started before the young of the previous brood has fledged;

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