| Description:
Adult male:
The forehead, top of head, nape and back of neck are
bluish-grey. Display feathering on the sides of the
neck and on the upper mantle are glossed with bright
violaceous to golden-green iridescence. The mantle,
scapulars and lesser wing-coverts are pale grey edged
with greyish-brown wash. Tertials and lower scapulars
are more greyish-brown. The secondaries and primaries
are blackish-brown with narrow white edge to the outerweb
and a narrower, pale buff edging to the innerweb. The
greater and median wings-coverts are pale grey. The
outer lower scapulars, tertials, inner three greater
and inner five or six median wing-coverts are all with
blackish subterminal spots on the outerwebs, giving
a distinctive wing pattern. The back and rump are darker
bluish-grey, grading to more greyish-brown on the uppertail-coverts
and inner two pairs of remiges. The outer air of remiges
are white with black subterminal spots on the innerwebs.
The next four pairs of outer retrices are pale grey
with small blackish subterminal spots. The chin and
throat are bluish-grey continuous with face and crown
giving a blue-grey head. The throat and breast are rich
pinkish-rufous becoming paler pink on the belly with
white undertail-coverts. The undertail is entirely white
with black spots apparent only on the innerwebs of the
outer remiges. the wing linings are greyish-white. The
underside of the secondaries and primaries are blackish-brown.
Iris is carmine-red and there is a narrow purplish-red
eye-ring. The bill is black. The legs and feet are bright
coral-red.
Adult
female: Females are generally browner above and paler
below with much reduced bloom to plumage when breeding.
The wings, back and tail are similar to the male, except
that the primary outerwebs edged buff or rufous-buff.
The forehead, top of head and nape to scapulars are
greyish-brown. The sides of the neck have reduced greenish-golden
iridescence. The lower throat and breast are buff-brown,
grading to whitish-buff on the belly and white underatail-coverts.
The bare-part colors as in the male but generally duller.
Juvenile:
Overall, like the female, but the wing-spots are obscure
or absent. The head, neck, inner scapulars and breast
darker are ashy brownish-grey with pale greyish-buff
fringes. The outer scapulars and wing-coverts are fringed
with distinct pale buff-brown. The tertials are brownish-black
with a rufous wash on the outerweb and buff edgings.
The secondaries are brownish-black with pale edgings
to the outerwebs. The primaries are blackish-brown edged
broadly on the outerwebs and tip rufous-brown. There
is no iridescence on the back of the neck and the orbital
skin is colored dull reddish-purple. The feet and tarsi
are dull red.
|
