Orange-breasted Green Pigeon Treron bicinctus 橙胸綠鳩
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
Feb. 2006, Michelle and Peter Wong.
29 cm. Has the thickset build, short tail and mainly yellowish-green plumage typical of the genus. Males of this species can readily be distinguished from other species in the region by the presence of a tawny-orange breast patch bordered above by a diffuse mauve-pink patch. On both sexes, the nape is grey, the undertail coverts dull orange, and the legs and feet reddish.
VOCALISATIONS
Not reported in HK.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
Recorded only on Po Toi island, where it favoured hillside shrubland.
OCCURRENCE
There are two records, spanning dates of 2 October to 16 March.
A male was found on Po Toi on 18 February 2006 (Ho 2010) and intermittently seen until 16 March 2006. Later the same year a male, thought to be the same returning individual, was seen again on Po Toi on 2 October and 22 November, and again on 16 and 24 January 2007.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
The bird recorded on Po Toi remained hidden within foliage, but occasionally perched on top of bare, leafless trees.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Polytypic, with four subspecies recognised. Distributed in Sri Lanka and from India through Burma and Indochina to Hainan and south to Java and Bali (Baptista et al. 1997). Apart from the endemic Hainan subspecies T. b. domvilii, the closest known population to HK is in north central Vietnam, where the nominate taxon occurs. In China also recorded as a vagrant in Taiwan (Ding et al. 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend stable.
Baptista, L.F., Trail, P.W. and Horblit, H.M. (1997). Family Columbidae (Pigeons and Doves). Pp. 60-243 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A. and J. Sargatal. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
Ding, T. S., C. S. Juan, R. S. Lin, Y. J. Tsai, J. L. Wu, J. Wu and Y. H. Yang (2020). The 2020 CWBF Checklist of the Birds of Taiwan. Bird Record Committee, Chinese Wild Bird Federation, Taipei. Downloaded at: https://www.bird.org.tw/report/2020/english
Ho, G. W. C. (2010). Orange-breasted Green Pigeon Treron bicincta on Po Toi Island: the first Hong Kong record and the first in China for 30 years. Hong Kong Bird Report 2005-06: 187-196.
