Huang Chee Thong a.k.a bloodlamb photographed a male Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans) eating the fruit of the MacArthur palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii) by swallowing it whole (above).
We have an earlier post on the Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) swallowing whole fruits of the MacArthur palm. But we do not know whether the bird regurgitates the seeds or passes them out at the other end.
As for the Pink-necked Green Pigeon, we earlier suspected that it swallowed these fruits and later regurgitated the seeds. We now have evidence that this pigeon actually swallows the fruits but we still need evidence that it subsequently regurgitates the seed.
This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
4 responses
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Hi.. I found your post while trying to identify the breed of the bird I rescued from the claws of a young prey bird. It appears the rescued bird is a female pink-necked green pigeon.
I have found undigested fruit (some form of red berries about 1cm in diameter, with rather thick skin) along with their seeds in its faeces on the day it was rescued. I am not sure if it has failed to regurgitate the seeds due to stress induced by the life-threatening attack.
Thanks for the info Myra. I is possible that the pigeon does not regurgitate the seeds. We need more evidence.