Western Crowned Pigeon

Open encyclopedia reference

The western crowned pigeon (Goura cristata), also known as the common crowned pigeon or blue crowned pigeon, is a large, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females. It is on average 70 cm (28 in) long and weighs 2.1 kg (4.6 lbs). Along with its close and very similar-looking relatives the Victoria crowned pigeon, Sclater's crowned pigeon, and Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon, it is one of the largest members of the pigeon family. The western crowned pigeon is found in and is endemic to the lowland rainforests of northwestern New Guinea; the other species of crowned pigeon inhabit different regions of the island. The diet consists mainly of fruits and seeds. Hunted for food and its plumes, it remains common only in remote areas. Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas, the western crowned pigeon is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Wikipedia contributors, Western crowned pigeon; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:00:04.294208+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Goura cristata (Pallas, 1764)

Name authority

(Pallas, 1764)

Common name

Western Crowned Pigeon

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Columbiformes

Family

Columbidae

Genus

Goura

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderColumbiformes
10. familyColumbidae
11. subfamilyRaphinae
12. genusGoura Stephens, 1819
13. speciesGoura cristata (Pallas, 1764)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Goura. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 279 records assigned to Columbidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=177276 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3H4WP. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.