The largest pigeon in the world

September 24, 2013  •  Leave a Comment
The NZ kereru is a (threatened) but extant pigeon.  It is the only native pigeon species in NZ and is also the largest.  This leads it to have an odd flight path, where its downward action seems to risk it crashing into the ground. 
 
These shot are of a kereru perched in a native tree in some forest close to us.  The trick really is to see if it will sit partly exposed in sunlight to capture the sheen of its neck and head feathers.
 
At the moment, they're also making a mess of our deck with the discarded seeds of berries they're consuming :)
 
KereruKereruA CWP Photo
The PerchThe PerchThe threatened NZ native wood pigeon, or kereru, is one of the largest, extant pigeons in the world. It is our only native pigeon species and sadly, is considered threatened.

It is a challenge to get the sheen on the 'neck and head' feathers right as you need sunlight to strike the body. For a bird that lives in tree canopies this rarely occurs.

The trick here was to be at the same elevation as the bird for this shot when it was perched in full sun.
Keywords: Environment and Ecology, bird, bird, kereru, photo, wood pigeon

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