Sula Cuckoo-Dove

The Sula cuckoo-dove is a large, long-tailed pigeon with mainly slate-coloured plumage. Adults show a conspicuous white face, red skin around the eye and a metallic green shawl along the sides of the neck; juveniles are duller and have a grey face. It was treated as a form of the white-faced cuckoo-dove until recognised as a separate species in 2016. Its range is confined to Indonesia’s Sula Islands and Banggai Archipelago (eBird/Merlin and Wikipedia general species accounts).

Singles or pairs usually occupy the upper levels of trees in forest and along forest edges, but they also use broken, more open woodland. The usual song is a six-note series, sometimes introduced by several much softer short notes. Within its restricted island range the combination of white face, long tail and dark body is distinctive. The sources opened did not provide dependable food, nest or clutch information, so none is inferred from other cuckoo-doves (eBird/Merlin general species account).