Pink Pigeon - Pigeon des Mares

ENCYCLOPÆDIA
Mauritiana

Pink Pigeon
Pigeon des mares - Pizon rose
Columba mayeri

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Photograph © Peter M.C. Werner

Description
Scientific Name	Columba mayeri
Alias name	Nesoenas mayeri
English Name	Pink Pigeon
Local English Name
French Name	Pigeon des mares
Local French Name
Creole Name	Pizon rose
Habitat
Geographic Range	Mauritius
Status	CITES I - PROTECTED
First Description	Prevost, 1843

Classification
Kingdom Phylum Sub phylum Class Order Family Genus Species	Animalia Chordata Vertebrata Aves Columbiformes Columbidae Columba Columba mayeri


Details
Food	Feeds on buds, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds of a variety of native and introduced plants, e.g. vieille fille (Lantana). It will take fallen seeds or fruits on the ground.
Reproduction	One or two white eggs laid on a rough platform made by the female from twigs brought by the male. He also marks out a territory around the chosen tree and chases out intruders. Both sexes sit on the eggs, the female being on night duty from late afternoon to early morning, the male incubating during day time. Incubation lasts about 2 weeks, and as in other pigeons, the young are fed with regurgitated food called crop milk. Vegetable matter, such as leaves and seeds, is added after the first four days and gradually increased. The young leave the nest when about 3 weeks old. Breeding success is low, only some 10 per cent.
Remarks	Male and female plumage identical. The birds have been reported to be sometimes drowsy after eating berries of Stillingia. The pink pigeon very likely lived all over the island. Early Dutch settlers killed pigeons near the coast and record that they were very tame. Decline was not long to follow and in the 19th century the bird was restricted to forest areas in the uplands and considered rare by the turn of the century. In the 1950's the population was reduced to some 50 birds falling to about twenty in 1986 in a small area some 25 square kilometers in the south west. Illustrated on a 50 cent stamp and a calendar published by the State Commercial Bank. Bird Stamps

The pink pigeon, the largest of all the pigeons and doves found on Mauritius is another highly endangered species. Impediments to progress include poor nesting results due to predation from monkeys and rats.

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Without help from the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (JWPT) it would soon have been totally extinct. The JWPT was established in 1963 by the eminent zoologist and author Gerald Durrell.

It is devoted to the concept of captive breeding of endangered species as an aid to their survival in the wild. In 1984 Gerald Durrell released the first 11 of 150 captive bred Pink Pigeons into the Pamplemousse Botanical Gardens in Mauritius as the first step of a major re-introduction programme to save the species.

The success to date of the recovery project for the Mauritius pink pigeon is a good example of how intensive management techniques can bring a species back from the brink of extinction.

here were about 15 Pink Pigeons in the wild in the early 1990s, at present (2002) there are just under 350, and about a year ago there were over 400.

We had several theories about the decline. It is very localised to only one of the five populations of Pink Pigeons at "Pigeon Wood", also known as "Plaine Pol". This is the only truly wild population, where no releases have been done, and yet the population has risen from nine birds in the early nineties to just under 100 in roughly June 2000. There are still measures such as supplementary feeding that are implemented.

Since then, the population has plumeted to about 20 birds. This is probably due to one or more wild cats, a single one of which has been documented to kill off up to 45~50 Pigeons within a couple of months. There is also growing evidence that there is some kind of a disease problem in the population. The disease has not been identified yet, but could be Leucozytozoon, a blood parasite. There is one other possibility, for which there was very sketchy evidence. It is possible that there was some kind of human intervention, where shady characters who used the forest for shady reasons, may have poached Pigeons. (1)

(1) Information given by John Tayleur who coordinated the Pink Pigeon project

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	Endemic Birds

Echo Parakeet
	The Captive Breeding Program
Kestrel Pink Pigeon Mauritius Fody Paradise Flycatcher Cuckoo Shrike Grey White-Eye Olive White-eye Black Bulbul Rodrigues Warbler Yellow Fody


	Sites

	Macchabee Forest Road Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary Casela Bird Park Pamplemousse Botanical Gardens



	References

	Fuller, E. Extinct Birds of the World QL676.8.F85 1987 ISBN 0-8160-1833-2 p.126 Greenway, J. C. Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World QL676.7.G7 1967 p.124 King, W. Endangered Birds of the World; The ICBP Bird Red Data Book QL676.7.K56 1981 ISBN 0-87474-584-5 Preamble 8 Nilsson, G. The Endangered Species Handbook QL82.N55 1983 ISBN 0-938-424-09-7 p.12


	Links

	The Mauritius Wildlife Foundation Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Wildlife Preservation Trust Canada The Wild Ones Animal Index Sedgwick County Zoo


	Acknowledgements

	My thanks go to Mr. Vikash Tatayah of the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation for letting me have access to the Conservation Area where I was able to take photographs of the endemic birds held at the Black River aviaries. I thank particularly Mrs. Frédérique Koenig, Aviararies Manager, who was a helpful, friendly and competent guide. Peter M.C. Werner February 2004

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