Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 27, 2014

The Trocaz Pigeon is a pigeon endemic to the island of Madeira. It is a mainly grey bird with a pinkish breast; its silvery neck patch and lack of white wing markings distinguish it from its close relative and probable ancestor, the Common Wood Pigeon. It is about 40–45 cm (16–18 in) long with a 68–74 cm (27–29 in) wingspan. Its call is a characteristic six-note cooing, weaker and lower-pitched than that of the Wood Pigeon. Despite its bulky, long-tailed appearance, it has a fast, direct flight. A scarce resident breeder in laurisilva forests, it lays one white egg in a flimsy twig nest. It was formally described in 1829 by Karl Heineken, a German medical doctor and ornithologist, who recognised it as different from the now-extinct local form of the Common Wood Pigeon. Its numbers fell sharply after human colonisation of the Madeira archipelago, and it vanished altogether from Porto Santo Island. The major cause of its population decline was habitat loss from forest clearance, but hunting and nest predation by introduced rats were also contributory factors. Protection of forests and a ban on hunting have enabled numbers to increase, and the species is no longer considered endangered. (Full article...)

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