Cousin to the dodo

Wow!! It looks like something out of Harry Potter

What a beauty.
Well done Edinburgh Zoo n

Oops Where did the n come from?

Fantastic!

Baby doesn't look as splendid as the parents yet!

Never heard of this bird! lovely colours.

Thee are more in the pigeon family than you might think, and some of them are much prettier than our grey town ones. The Victoria crowned pigeon is the biggest, and very showy. Sadly, those beautiful fan feathers have made it vulnerable to being hunted.
www.arkive.org/victoria-crowned-pigeon/goura-victoria/

There, not thee. An R got lost.

Your right Eglantine

Nature at it's best.

I hadn't heard of it before this news story. Isn't it beautiful.

The pink pigeon, which I believe is only found in Mauritius, was very rare and endangered in the 80's but following a conservation programme, whilst still uncommon, is not so at risk now.

I don't think the Mauritian pink pigeon is out of the woods yet. It still faces all kinds of threats - feral cats are one, what a lot of problems pussycats gone wild cause to other wildlife. Also only half the eggs laid by the pigeons hatch, and the small genetic pool is not good for the welfare of the species.

theconversation.com/how-a-genetic-rescue-mission-could-save-the-pink-pigeon-in-mauritius-75085

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201712/medium-715781--98953417-originalsolitairecapture.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201712/medium-759900--98953242-solitairecapture.jpg

Another big flightless pigeon, the Rodrigues solitaire, is described in an article at
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42057143 It had a bony growth on its wing which it used to fight othe solitaires, but that was no use against the introduced rats and cats which ate its eggs and chicks. Apparently the Victoria Crowned Pigeon also has a growth on the wing-wrist (but smaller than that of the solitaire) that it uses for defence. I didn't known that.

The article was inspired by research for the radio documentary 'Can we revive extinct species like the Dodo?' CrowdScience was on the BBC World Service at 20.35 on Friday 1 December. You can download the CrowdScience Podcast to listen on demand at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04d42rc