Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca

Wonga Pigeon

Leucosarcia melanoleuca

Family: Columbidae (Pigeons and Doves, 25 species in Australia)
Size: 36-39 cm
Distribution: Within about 200 km of the coasts of NSW, South QLD, Eastern VIC
Status: Common
Habitat: Coastal, dense forests, scrubs, rainforests
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

The Wonga Pigeon is known for its "woop, woop, woop, woop, woop..." call, which can go for hours, almost without a break. In older times it was known for being good eating, and is one of the only (perhaps the only) pigeon with white meat.

The Wonga Pigeon is almost always seen on the ground and it is very shy, they are heard much more than they are seen.

Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca
Photo: Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney NSW. High Resolution (2556 x 1779).

Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca
Photo: Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW

Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca
Photo: Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW

Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.

Some Birdwatching Resources

Know Your Birds, by Louise Egerton - Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca NEW: Know Your Birds, by Louise Egerton.

Revised edition 3 July 2019. Paperback / softback, 176 pages. It has an orange cover. The original edition was 2005 and has a blue cover. Some of the book sellers listed here show the photo from the original/older blue cover edition, but the rest of the info (including the publication date and ISBN) are from the newer revised 2019 edition, so presumably that's the one you'll get.

This book has very high quality large photographs of the birds (as in actual photographs). Most of the photos take up a whole page for each bird photograph. "Know Your Birds" only has a selection of the most common birds, and not all the birds that are found in Australia. This makes it very good for beginners — since most of the field guides have all the birds — and it can be confusing looking at six almost identical species of birds, not knowing that five of them are rare and it's probably the common one that you're looking for. Which would be the only one listed in this book.

Purchase from Australia (The Nile)

Purchase from Australia (Fishpond)

Purchase from Amazon.com.au (Australian Site)

See Also

Australian Bird Field Guides

Return to Australian Birds
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Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca

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