The Crested Pigeon is marked by a thin black crest and a whistle-like sound from its wings when startled into flight.
It has a thin black crest. Its grey-brown body is pinker underneath, and the wings have black bars and glossy green and purple patches.
The Crested Pigeon is a native Australian bird that had only recently colonized eastern Melbourne when this study was conducted. Researchers compared its response to people with those of Rock Doves and Spotted Doves, which had lived in the city longer. While the birds foraged, observers measured how close a person could approach before each bird moved away and how much time it spent vigilant.
Crested Pigeons mainly ran a short distance when approached. Their flight-initiation distance was longer than that of Rock Doves and did not differ from Spotted Doves. Rock Doves also spent less time vigilant than the other two species. The authors concluded that time spent living in a city alone did not explain how tolerant a dove was of human disturbance.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In eastern Melbourne, researchers compared responses to people approaching Rock Doves, Spotted Doves and Crested Pigeons while they foraged. Mean flight-initiation distance was 13.4 m for Crested Pigeons, 5.3 m for Rock Doves and 14.0 m for Spotted Doves. Crested Pigeons usually ran a short distance, Rock Doves walked and Spotted Doves flew farther. The two newer urban species spent similar time alert, more than Rock Doves. In a combined analysis, species identity was the strongest predictor of flight-initiation distance.