Pink-necked Green-pigeon feeding on Syzygium cumini fruits

Neo Tiang Pee’s images show the Pink-necked Green-pigeon (Treron vernans) feeding on Java plum (Syzygium cumini) fruits (above). They were taken at the Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West.

These pigeons are exclusively fruit eaters. The fruits are picked individually (above) and swallowed whole (below).

As shown in the image below, the gape is wide enough to make swallowing possible.

Once swallowed, the fruit moves down the oesophagus or gullet, which stretchs to allow it to move down to the crop (below) where the soft outer flesh is scraped off the seed and the latter passed on to the intestines to be eventually expelled.

Neo Tiang Pee
Singapore
21st August 2016

This post is a cooperative effort between Birds, Insects N Creatures Of Asia and BESG to bring the study of birds and their behavior through photography and videography to a wider audience.