Alice Springs Birds •
Alice Springs BirdsAlice Springs Birds — image index Babblers Black-faced Cuckooshrike Brown Falcon Channel-billed Cuckoo Crested Pigeon Galah Magpie-lark Musk Duck Port Lincoln Ringneck Rainbow Bee-eater Sacred Kingfisher Sanderling Spinifex Pigeon Singing Honeyeater Southern Boobook Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Splendid Fairy-wren Spotted Dove Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-plumed Honeyeater Willie Wagtail Yellow-throated Miner
The Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) are often seen in Alice Springs, as well as at waterholes further out of town. Once restricted to arid and semi-arid regions of inland Australia, the Crested Pigeon have successfully established themselves as an urban bird, and are widely distributed across the mainland.
With over 20 native species of Australian pigeons, belonging to the family Columbidae, there are only two species of Australian pigeons that possess an erect crest, the Crested Pigeon and the Spinifex Pigeon.
The Crested Pigeon is sometimes referred to as a topknot pigeon (although this is the common name for the species Lopholaimus antarcticus found along the east coast of Australia).
The crest is thin and black, whilst most of the plumage is grey-brown, although in certain light, such as sunset, it can have a soft dusty blue-grey hue. The wings are barred with black, glossy green and purple metallic coloured patches. It has a pinkish-red ring around the eye.
When startled, the pigeon takes to the air with a lovely characteristic whistling flight.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Columbiformes
- Family: Columbidae
- Genus: Ocyphaps
- Species: O. lophotes
- Binomial name: Ocyphaps lophotes
Alice Springs BirdsAlice Springs Birds — image index Babblers Black-faced Cuckooshrike Brown Falcon Channel-billed Cuckoo Crested Pigeon Galah Magpie-lark Musk Duck Port Lincoln Ringneck Rainbow Bee-eater Sacred Kingfisher Sanderling Spinifex Pigeon Singing Honeyeater Southern Boobook Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Splendid Fairy-wren Spotted Dove Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-plumed Honeyeater Willie Wagtail Yellow-throated Miner
Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander