African Olive-Pigeon ( Columba arquatrix, family: columbidae)

Birds & Birding in the Kruger National Park South Africa. In Roberts 6 this bird was called Rameron Pigeon

African olive pideon kruger national park birds The African Olive-Pigeon (Latin name Columba arquatrix) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 350 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 278 also a picture of the African Olive-Pigeon on page 273. The African Olive-Pigeon belongs to the family of birds classified as columbidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the African Olive-Pigeon is also known by these other names: African Pigeon, Olive Pigeon, Yellow-eyed Pigeon, Rameron Pigeon.

In the previous edition of Roberts (ie 6th edition) the African Olive-Pigeon was called the Rameron Pigeon

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The African Olive-Pigeon is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the African Olive-Pigeon in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. African Olive-Pigeon has been recorded in only 1 sections of the arbitrary Kruger Park regions I selected.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

The African Olive-Pigeon is a bird about the size of a Francolin now called Spurfowl. The height of the African Olive-Pigeon is about 40 cms and its weight is about 450 gms

The male and female African Olive-Pigeon have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is purple, brown.
  • Eye is yellow.
  • Bill is yellow.
  • Throat is mauve.
  • Back is purple, brown.
  • Legs are yellow.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The African Olive-Pigeon feeds in tree and shrub foliage mainly

Fruits

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The African Olive-Pigeon is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Columba arquatrix will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of African Olive-Pigeon is to create the nest in branches of a tree or shrub. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 1 to 2

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for African Olive-Pigeon are: forests and heavily treed regions

You will normally see the African Olive-Pigeon in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Izuba/Izubantonga

Zulu ... iVukuthu-lehlathi

Afrikaans ...Geelbekbosduif

German ... Oliventaube

Portuguese ... Pombo-d'olho-amarelo

French ... Pigeon rameron

Dutch ... Olijfduif

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 350

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za