olive

Olive Pigeon Columba arquatrix
Distribution : East Africa - map
Other names : Yellow eye pigeon

How to sex ??

In age of 12 month or more

Adult male has red eye cere
Adult female has yellow eye cere,
sometimes with little red
Adult male- the chest with distinct colour line
mostly grey.
Adult female -the chest grey with black,
and not as distinct as the male.

This photo was taken on 25 October 2002, the chicks came from differnt parents
and I think that the right one is a male and the left one is a female
The head and beak of the male are lighter in color
I am not sure about these gender differences so, I'll take more photos in the future to sustain the assumption


After a month on 23 November 2002:

The female's chest has fewer white dots than the male's. The beak is still darker, later on both beaks will have the same yellow color
The male's chest has many white dots from one wing to the other. The head is lighter in color than the female's.

The mother with her chick first appearance outside the nest

On 1st March 2002
8 days later - 9 March 2002