White-quilled Rock Pigeon
Petrophassa albipennis

AKA: White-winged Rock Pigeon, White-winged Bronzewing

pic HBW

Distribution: Found only among the cliffs, gorges & boulder strewn sloped regions of the Kimberley Division of Western Australia & adjacent Northern Territory east to the Flora River & Stokes Range.

Two distinct races are recognized: P. a. albipennis (Gould 1841); P. a. boothi (Goodwin 1969)

Description: Length 29 cm (11-12 inches). Crown, neck & breast dark brown with grey bases & pale fringes giving the mottled or scalloped effect. The throat & chin black & spotted with small triangular white spots; a thin black line extends from bill thru the eye which is bordered on top & bottom by a single line of white feathers. Mantle to uppertail coverts & wing shields dark brown to dark rufous brown with pale rufous buff fringes. Uppertail feathers dark brown; undertail black. Primaries chestnut with patches of white (seen best when bird in flight or stretching the wing). Iris  dark brown, bill black, legs & feet purple black. Female similar to male. Juvenile similar to adults but having feathers fringed buff & throat spots more greyish.

Nesting: Clutch two white eggs; incubation 15-19 days; juveniles fledge within two weeks.

NOTES: the two races differ in darker or lighter plumage color and being either white-winged or dark-winged. Large dark birds in the north & west Kimberley & small redder birds in the east & Northern Territory. Said to retain the few hidden iridescence wing spots as the Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon. 

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