Bright Blue Bird 2
by Nina Silver
Title
Bright Blue Bird 2
Artist
Nina Silver
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photograph
Description
This bright blue bird is a portrait of a Victoria crowned pigeon (Goura victoria). Thank you to fellow FAA artist, Brian Tada, for letting me know the breed of this bird. As a photographer, I often capture an image on my travels, and don't always know the details of the flower, bird, tree, etc. This bird was captured at the Toronto Zoo, here in Canada, where I live. After Brian saw it here in my portfolio, he suggested I verify its name. As soon as I did, the information showed up on the Toronto Zoo website. Here are some details:
"This is a very distinctive looking pigeon, easily distinguished from other pigeons by their dark blue-grey plumage and large fan-like crest feathers tipped with white and purple. The body is covered in beautiful grayish-blue feathers and the chest in purple feathers, leading to steel-grey belly feathers. There is a lacy sagittal crest on top of the head with tips ending in white. The head is small in proportion to the body, a characteristic of pigeons. The red coloured eyes are surrounded by a dark narrow eye patch. It has a long hooked beak. Legs are long and speckled brown and white; ending in orange feet. The tail is long and has a band of light bluish grey at the tip. This is one of the largest pigeons in the world. It can grow to be the size of a large chicken. They weigh around 3.4 kg and have a length of 75 - 85 cm.
Males and females look almost identical, with males sometimes a little larger than the females. Crowned pigeons differ from other pigeons in having sixteen instead of twelve tail feathers, in the scaling of their legs, in lacking an oil gland and gall bladder, and in possessing the large, fan-shaped crest of erect lacy feathers." - The origin of these birds is Australasia.
Zoo Diet: Mixed fruit, beans sprouts, romaine lettuce, Psittacine soft diet, softbill gelatine diet, waterfowl breeder pellets, pigeon grain, and oyster shell/insoluble grit.
Uploaded
February 21st, 2014
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Viewed 788 Times - Last Visitor from Romeo, MI on 03/28/2024 at 12:56 AM
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Comments (16)
Brian Tada
Nina, this majestic bird portrait is absolutely, amazingly beautiful... spectacular! I believe this is a Victoria crowned pigeon (Goura victoria); you might do a web search to verify. Your photograph is superb... a real beauty! F/L
Nina Silver replied:
Thank you, Brian, for identifying the breed of this bird, and for your lovely compliment on my work.
Kathryn Launey
Well composed image! The background adds interest without distracting from this majestic specimen. Like Barbie, I wish you would add a description regarding your excellent capture. Congrats on being featured.
Nina Silver replied:
Thank you for the thoughtful comment, Kathryn. I will now definitely have to edit the page and add a description of the experience.
Barbie Corbett-Newmin
Pretty bird. I wish you could identify it.
Nina Silver replied:
Thanks Barbie. This bird was freely wandering around an indoor exhibit at the Toronto zoo a few years back, and I did not get its details.