Speckled Wood-Pigeon Columba hodgsonii Scientific name definitions

38–40 cm. Head pale grey; breast and sides of neck pinkish silver speckled with black spots; each feather silver with a dark central streak and silvery pink tip; hindneck feathers lanceolate, black or purplish black basally and silver at tips giving neck a speckled appearance; mantle and wing-coverts dark reddish purple merging into bluish grey on outer wing-coverts and rump; tail and primaries black; some silver flecking on upper mantle, small white spots on inner and median wing-coverts; belly dark reddish purple with pinkish white streaks, each feather purplish with white fringes; ventral area, undertail-coverts and underwing slate-grey; iris white or greyish white; orbital skin grey; bill bluish purple basally, black distally; legs brownish yellow to green, claws bright yellow. Female has silver areas replaced by light grey or brownish grey; purplish areas dark grey; iris with grey or brown tinges. Juvenile lacks lanceolate neck feathers; paler and browner than female; has less conspicuous spotting and rufous edges to many of the feathers of mantle and wing.

Himalayas from Kashmir E to WC China (S Gansu, W Sichuan and Yunnan) and Myanmar; at least winter visitor to NW Thailand and NW Laos (1 Robson, C.R. (2008). A Field Guide to the Birds of South-east Asia. 2nd edition. New Holland, London. Close ).

Tall evergreen and semi-evergreen hill forests of oak, Rhododendron and associated plants, within altitude range of 1800–4000 m. Sometimes to be seen in intervening open treeless valley bottoms, e.g. resting on rocks.

Undertakes local and altitudinal movements according to food supply. Birds seen in N Thailand in winter may be migrants from further north.

Mostly arboreal and frugivorous but also takes herbs, seeds and cereals on the ground; much of the diet consists of acorns, drupes and fruits of Prinsepia utilis; in the Himalayas has been observed feeding on acorns of brown oak (Quercus semicarpifolia) and Ficus. Feeds in pairs, trios or flocks of 6–10 birds.

Poorly known and hardly documented, but evidently not very vocal. Reported to give a low-pitched “whock-whrooo-whrooo”, the last note longest and more rolling (2 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2012). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volumes 1 and 2. Second edition. National Museum of Natural History—Smithsonian Institution, Michigan State University, and Lynx Edicions, Washington, DC, East Lansing, MI, and Barcelona, Spain. Close ).

Breeding occurs mainly May–Jun but probably extends further into the summer at altitudes of 1800–3300 m. Nest consists of a platform of interlaced twigs placed 3–8 m up in an oak or other tree. Clutch is 1 white egg. No further information available.

Not globally threatened. A little known species; appears to be usually rather uncommon, although relative inaccessibility of much of range means that many data are essentially anecdotal. Reported to be common in Great Himalayan National Park, N India. Uncommon to occasional in Nepal. Status in extensive Chinese sector of range unknown.