Green Tree Pigeon

Bruce's Green Tree Pigeon Fun Facts

  • Bruce's Green Tree Pigeon has stunning bright green plumage on its back that helps it blend into the lush forest canopies where it lives in sub-Saharan Africa. The rest of their body is also colorful: a gray head, yellow belly, purple wings, and red eyes.
  • They are frugivores, specializing in eating the fruits of one specific fig tree, Ficus platyphylla. Eating this fruit is what causes its feathers to become green; without it, they become grayer.
  • These pigeons are excellent fliers, soaring gracefully through the trees and covering large distances in search of food.
  • Bruce's Green Tree Pigeons make a soft, cooing sound that echoes through the forest, helping it communicate with others.
  • They spend most of their time high in the trees of tropical forests, rarely coming down to the ground. They are true canopy explorers!

 

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Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo Bruce's Green Tree Pigeon  

Bruce is our resident Bruce’s Green Tree Pigeon. She is elusive and very hard to find in our zoo, preferring quiet mornings and afternoons where she can eat undisturbed. If you’d like to see her, ask one of our Animal Care staff members to help you, or venture into the zoo first thing in the morning and search near the Rainbow Bridge and Daydream Stream.

 

 

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