Birds of the Week: Fruit Doves

It's the dead of winter so let's look at some beautiful tropical birds.

This week's Bird of the Week is actually eight Birds of the Week. Or, more accurately, dozens of Birds of the Week. That is because, for the first time, we are devoting an entry to an entire species of bird, rather than a single individual feathered friend. And that species is....the fruit dove.

There are, depending on the sources you look up, 57, or 54, or 46, or close to 50, kinds of fruit doves in the world. As the name pretty blatantly suggests, they are doves and they love fruit. They live all over Southeast Asia and Australia and New Zealand. Go to, say, a rainforest in Indonesia, and you might see a fruit dove!

Unlike most weeks, that is the extent of the hardcore research I am going to give you, because the big important thing about the fruit doves I need to share with you is how off-the-wall stunning they are. This all started with Senior Bird Correspondent Caitlin, who told me this week, "I just remembered that I flagged a great bird the other day." Caitlin does not lie. This was the bird:

cornellbirds

A post shared by Cornell Lab of Ornithology (@cornellbirds)

My jaw dropped, and I fell off my chair, reduced to mouthing vague syllables. (OK, that last part is slightly overcooked, by which I mean made up, but I was agog!)

Caitlin continued: "I think I'd lose my mind if I saw this bird in the wild. It's NEON."

IT'S NEON PEOPLE! Here is another look at the golden fruit dove, which lives in Fiji:

Rainer Burkard

I mean, good lord! Caitlin again: "Ahhh the plumage, the texture!!"

"Ahhh the plumage, the texture!!" indeed. I had to know more. And, wouldn't you know it, every fruit dove I found bowled me over. Then I remembered that we listed the Mariana fruit dove at the top of our state bird rankings. The fruit doves had been sending us a message this whole time! It also became clear that it was impossible to decide which fruit dove I was going to highlight. They are all too good. So I am celebrating them as a glorious group. Here, without further ado, are seven more fruit doves for you to gaze at in suitably awestruck fashion.

Rose-crowned fruit dove

Sascha Wenninger

Superb fruit dove

russellstreet

Orange fruit dove

Aviceda

Pink-necked fruit dove

Jean

Coroneted fruit dove

Heather Paul

Jambu fruit dove

cuatrok77

Yellow-breasted fruit dove

Eric Gropp

All hail the fruit doves!!!!

A reminder: you can check out our complete Bird of the Week list here, and get in touch with your bird suggestions at hello@discourseblog.com.