Japanese Green Pigeon

fly to drink salt water

Scientific name	Treron sieboldii
English name	Japanese Green Pigeon
Japanese name	青鳩
Classification	Aves
Classification details	Columbiformes Columbidae
Full length	33cm
Distribution	China, Taiwan, Japan

Characteristics

A beautiful olive colored pigeon. Males have dark red shoulders like grapes. The tail is mixed with gray. The belly is light colored and appears whitish when viewed from below.

It used to be called "Yama-bato(Mountain Pigeon)".

Calls

During the breeding season, males call out "ooh oh oh". It also makes a pigeon-like "pop-pop" sound.

Ecology

Inhabits mountains and coasts. They live in groups of several to several dozen and eat fruits and sprouts on trees. It builds a dish-shaped nest and lays eggs in June.

Drinking sea water

In the mornings from summer to autumn, they appear on rocky coastal areas to drink seawater. It is thought that it is for mineral supplementation, but the details are not known. It is not uncommon for them to fly from mountains dozens of kilometers away to drink seawater.

Habitat

We observed a flock of green pigeons that came to drink seawater on the Terugasaki beach in Oiso, Kanagawa prefecture. A flock of about 10 birds flew about every 10 minutes, landed on a rocky place, and quickly drank seawater. When a big wave hit the rocks and crashed, It was startled and flew away.

About an hour after I started observing, the green pigeons on the rocky area suddenly scattered. Then a falcon rushed in from behind and kicked a green pigeon away. When it grabbed the green pigeon with its sharp claws, it soared and left. They come to certain rocky areas, so they seem to be good prey for peregrine falcons.