Endangered
Marquesan Imperial Pigeon
Ducula galeata
The Nuku Hiva imperial pigeon, also known as the Marquesan imperial pigeon or Upe, is a pigeon that is endemic to Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, now restricted to some valleys in the western part of that island.
Appearance
Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 27.8–32.1 cm (10.9–12.6 in), the tail is 18.1–23.1 cm (7.1–9.1 in), the bill is 1.9–2.7 cm (0.75–1.06 in) and the tarsus is 3.9–4.6 cm (1.5–1.8 in). This species is heavily built with a large bill and long, broad tail. The Nuku Hiva imperial pigeon is sooty-gray on the head, throat and breast, with a white band just behind the bill that can be seen from some distance.
This is the largest pigeon outside of the crowned pigeons, as it weighs approximately 900 g (2.0 lb). Females, at 50 to 53.5 cm (19.7 to 21.1 in) long, are slightly smaller than males, at 55 cm (22 in) in length.
Range and habitat
This was originally distributed throughout its native island, that at one time was almost completely covered in forest. A few on the island may still turn in sea-level forested groves and woods surrounded banana and orange plantations. Before ancient Polynesian settlers arrived there, subfossil bones show there was also a population of this bird on Henderson Island in the Pitcairn Islands.
The Nuku Hiva imperial pigeon, also known as the Marquesan imperial pigeon or Upe, is a pigeon that is endemic to Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, now restricted to some valleys in the western part of that island. Following successful reintroductions of birds in 2000 and 2003, there is now an established population on Ua Huka.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Pigeons nest in trees or on the ground and raise few young. An island dove with a high threat category is usually one introduced mammal away from silence.
In crisis
With its small distribution, scientists now believe it has probably never been common, but its small population (estimated at c. 300 as of 2023) has marked it as an endangered species since 2008.
Marquesan Imperial Pigeon is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Marquesan Imperial Pigeon, Wikidata item Q1264188. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
