Luzon Bleeding Heart – Punay

Sitting in the park, relaxing and enjoying the fresh air and beautiful scenery. Suddenly, you see a bird that looks like it’s been shot. But don’t panic! That’s just the Luzon bleeding-heart dove, locally known as Punay.

Luzon bleeding-heart is a standard-sized pigeon, named after the bright red patch of feathers on their chest extending down the belly that looks like a flowed blood. On its upper surfaces, the Punay is slate grey in color, but because it is iridescent, it can appear to be purple, royal blue, or bottle-green, and the apparent color varies with lighting conditions. On their wings are black bands, while their belly and under wing areas are buff or chestnut.

As its name suggest, the Luzon bleeding-heart is endemic to the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It lives in primary or secondary forests, and can be found at altitudes varying from up to 1400 meters above sea level. They eat seeds, berries and larva of insects. They are shy and secretive, and very quiet, and rarely leave the ground except when nesting.

Luzon bleeding-heart doves are considered near threatened, with their biggest threat being habitat loss and hunting.

Scientific Name: Gallicolumba luzonica
Family: Columbidae

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzon_bleeding-heart