Common / Asian / Grey-capped Emerald Dove

Order - Columbiformes
Family - Columbidae (Pigeons, Doves)

Common Emerald Dove /Asian Emerald Dove /
Grey-capped Emerald Dove

Chalcophaps indica

绿翅金鸠 (lǜ-chì jīn-jiū) / 绿背金鸠 (lǜ-bèi jīn-jiū)

    Malay : Punai-Tanah Biasa

    Japanese : キンバト [indica グループ] (Kin-bato [indica guru-pu])

    Kanji 日語漢字 : 金鳩

    Extent of Occurrence (resident/breeding) : 21,300,000km²

    Migratory Status : Not a Migrant
    Breeding Endemic : No

    Taxonomy update for 2016

Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) is split into two species, with Asian Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) occurring widely in South Asia (e.g., India) to Southeast Asia (e.g., Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia) and Pacific Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps longirostris) occurring in New Guinea, Australia, and Pacific Islands. :

- Asian/Common/Grey-capped Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica)
- Pacific/Brown-capped Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps longirostris)

    Size : 23–27 cm; 89–171 g, Wingspan 43–46 cm

    

    Subspecies (6) and Distribution

• Chalcophaps indica indica (Linnaeus, 1758, East Indies)
  – India to southeastern China, south to Taiwan, southern Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and western Papuan islands.
• Chalcophaps indica robinsoni (E. C. S. Baker, 1928, Cocawatte Estate, Ceylon)
  – Endemic to Sri Lanka.
• Identification :
  – Subspecies robinsoni is like the nominate, but the male’s blue-gray crown reaches onto the upper mantle, and the female tends to show a more extensive gray cap than other subspecies, while size (wing length) is marginally smaller.
• Chalcophaps indica maxima (E. J. O. Hartert, 1931, Golapabung, South Andamans)
  – Endemic to the Andaman Islands.
• Identification :
  – Subspecies maxima is (despite its name) only slightly larger than nominate, but male is otherwise basically identical to nominate indica, although the female is more easily differentiated by almost completely lacking gray in the crown and by having the forehead suffused sandy buff.
• Chalcophaps indica augusta (Bonaparte, 1855, Ins. Nicobaricis ? [=Nicobar Islands, Following Ali & Ripley (2001) Vol 3: 161.])
  – Endemic to the Nicobar Islands.
• Identification :
  – Subspecies augusta is intermediate between maxima and the nominate, being smaller and darker than the first-named, with a dark bluish upper mantle, bluer mantle, faint gray bands on the back (especially in female), darker underparts with a bluish cast and almost black undertail-coverts, whilst females of both augusta and maxima have weak silvery eyebrows.
• Chalcophaps indica natalis (Lister, 1889, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean)
  – Confined to Christmas Island (south of Java).
• Identification :
  – Subspecies natalis male has more orangey-buff underparts, especially on the belly, a darker blue-gray cap, and less extensive, gray shoulder patch, whilst the female has a sandy-buff forehead and supercilium, rufous shoulder, rich rufous rump to uppertail (except the outermost rectrices), and the neck and underparts are sandier.
• Chalcophaps indica minima (E. J. O. Hartert, 1931, Island of Numfor, Geelvink Bay)
  – Restricted to the islands of Numfor, Biak, and Mios Num (Cenderawasih Bay), in northwestern New Guinea.
• Identification :
  – Subspecies minima is generally darker than nominate indica and (befitting its name) a comparatively small taxon.

Distribution Map

Chalcophaps indica ssp. indica
Date : 31 March 2018

Location : Fraser's Hill, Mukim Tras, Daerah Raub, Pahang

Chalcophaps indica ssp. indica
Date : 02 May 2016

Location : Fraser's Hill, Mukim Tras, Daerah Raub, Pahang