Wompoo fruit dove

A rainbow among the leaves

The wompoo fruit dove, or magnificent fruit dove, is one of the largest and most colourful fruit doves. It has a spectacular livery: silvery-grey head and neck, a broad breast of intense violet-purple, green wings with a yellow band, and a bright yellow belly. Despite its bold colours, it blends surprisingly well into the sun-dappled foliage. (Note: the mass value reported by Wikidata, 21.7 kg, is clearly erroneous: this bird actually weighs about 300 to 500 grams.)

Habitat and range

It lives in the rainforests of New Guinea and eastern Australia, from Queensland to New South Wales. It frequents the canopy and mid-storey of the forest, rarely coming down to the ground. It occurs in numerous subspecies across its range.

Behaviour and diet

As its name suggests, it feeds almost entirely on fruit, especially wild figs and berries, which it swallows whole thanks to its expandable bill and gape. It is an important disperser of rainforest seeds. Its deep, rhythmic call, a characteristic "wollack-wa-hoo", resonates through the thickets and earned it its onomatopoeic name, wompoo.

Notable facts

It is a rather quiet, sedentary bird that spends much of its time sitting still, feeding among the fruit-laden branches. Its bold colouring, broken into sharp blocks, disrupts the animal's outline and makes it hard to spot in the play of light and shade in the canopy.

Conservation

The species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN and remains widespread. It depends, however, on intact rainforest: deforestation and habitat fragmentation are its main threats.