My first sighting of a Rose-crowned Fruit Dove in the wild!

A few days ago, I saw a social media post saying that people were seeing a Rose-crowned Fruit Dove in Manly, just north of Sydney. I was surprised, because these birds are more common further north. I verified the sightings on eBird, then went to see if I could find the bird.

My first few trips were fruitless, though there was a lot of fruit around, in the form of Blueberry Ash berries! When I later spotted a Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, it was in the midst of these blue berries.

Rose-crowned Fruit Doves are amazingly colourful — not what first comes to my mind when I think of doves. They get their name from the pink patch just above their beaks. The back and wings are a striking emerald green, and the front is a soft grey on the chest, moving to bright yellow and orange on the belly, then merging into a more lime-coloured green under the tail:

A frontal view shows the chest and belly, as well as the good strong legs and feet:

The dove had some competition for the berries from other birds. In particular, a group of figbirds moved in and started a bit of a squabble. The next photo shows the Rose-crowned Fruit Dove at top right and a figbird at bottom left. The photo gives a good view of the dove’s emerald green back:

Here’s a short video of the dove moving around:

Common name: Rose-crowned Fruit Dove
Scientific name: Ptilinopus regina
Approximate length: 22-24 cm
Date spotted: 7 September 2025 (spring)
Location: Manly North Head, Sydney Harbour National Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°48’35.7″S 151°17’32.8″E

Evidently Rose-crowned Fruit Doves migrate to follow the fruit. They’ve been spotted breeding in this area too, and other people have seen a couple of juveniles in the same area recently.

One of the nicest experiences about this sighting was the bird watchers that I met. On the day when I actually saw Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, there was a group of people all pointing their cameras in the same direction. I was immediately fairly sure the bird was there, and indeed it was. People were generous in pointing out the bird and making sure I had a good spot to get my photos: