Bar-tailed cuckoo-dove facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bar-tailed cuckoo-dove |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Macropygia
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| Species: |
nigrirostris
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The Bar-tailed Cuckoo-Dove is a special kind of bird. It is also known as the Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove. Its scientific name is Macropygia nigrirostris. This bird is part of the Columbidae family. This family includes all doves and pigeons. You can find these birds living in New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. Scientists have looked at this bird's population. They say it is a species of least concern. This means it is not in danger of disappearing.
What it Looks Like
This cuckoo-dove is about 29 centimetres (11 in) long. That's about the length of a school ruler. It has a short beak that is completely black. The six feathers in the middle of its tail have black stripes.
Male birds are a reddish-brown color. Their top and bottom parts look very similar. Female birds are different. They have black stripes on their upper body. Young birds, called juveniles, look like the females. But the stripes on their tails are not as neat.
You can tell this bird apart from other pigeons. It has a chestnut brown color. It also has a long, thin tail.
Where it Lives
The Bar-tailed Cuckoo-Dove lives in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. It likes to live in different kinds of forests. You can find it in very old forests. It also lives on the edges of forests. Sometimes, it lives in forests that are growing back.
These birds are common in mountain forests. They live there at heights up to 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level. Sometimes, you can even find them near the coast. They might be on hills close to the ocean.
How it is Protected
Since 1988, the Bar-tailed Cuckoo-Dove has been listed as a species of least concern. This is good news for the bird. It means it is not currently at risk of becoming extinct.
There are a few reasons for this. First, these birds live across a very large area. This area is bigger than 20,000 square kilometers (7,700 square miles). Second, the number of these birds seems to be stable. It is not going down.
Scientists have not counted every single bird. But they believe there are more than 10,000 of them. This number is high enough. It means the bird does not need a "vulnerable" rating. Right now, there are no big threats to this bird.
