Multi-Ethnic Bird Guide of the Subantarctic Forests of South America

IV. BIRDS OF THE FOREST MARGINS

BIRDS OF THE FOREST MARGINS 123 BIRDS OF THE FOREST MARGINS BIRDS OF THE FOREST MARGINS 124 BIRDS OF THE FOREST MARGINS 125 CD 1 / Track 24 In the forests of southern Chile and Argentina, inhabits a Chilean Pigeon or Kono, an endemic pigeon larger than the domestic one so common in the world’s cities. Kono has a beautiful, reddish-chestnut coloration, orange eyes, and an elegant white band at the nape of the neck with a metallic green patch below. It is gregarious, and lives in flocks high in the trees where they eat fleshy fruits like the peumo (Cryptocaria alba), the lingue (Persea lingue), the Winter’s Bark (Drimys winteri) or the olivillo (Aextoxicon punctatum). They nest in the trees, constructing small platforms of small, dry sticks, where they incubate and then feed their chicks with a kind of “milk” from the digested seeds of fruit. Hidden in the foliage of the trees, the pigeons emit their sonorous cooing that so typifies the austral forests—the sound was heard by Spanish conquistadors and caused them to believe that kono was the most abundant bird. Places such as Conumo (37º16’S; 73º14’W) in the mountains near Arauco, and the town of Pucón (39º15’S; 71º58’W) on the shores of Villarrica Lake express with their names of Mapudungun origin, the abundance of the Chilean Pigeon. Conumo means “with (= meu) pigeons (= kono or konun)”, and Pucón means many Chilean pigeons (pu = plural prefix; kon = abbreviation kono or konun). As described by the poet Lorenzo Aillapan, the Chilean Pigeon or kono was so abundant in past times that its flocks covered the sky with winged clouds—clouds that crossed through the ankawenu* or aerial space of the Mapuche territory. During the first decades of the 20th century, the Chilean Pigeon became the favorite prey of modern hunters in southern and central Chile. They waited to hunt it in the month of April, when the lingue (Persea lingue) bears fruits. When pigeons gorged on the lingue or linge fruit, its flavor permeated the flesh of the Chilean Pigeon or kono, which acquired a flavor highly-prized by the modern hunters and their customers. The over-hunting that ensued to satisfy the appetite for this flavor, together with habitat degradation and the devastating effect of the Newcastle epidemic virus, carried the Chilean Pigeon to the edge of extinction. Fortunately, there is still hope: kiñekelewey kono mawida mew, there are still a few wild pigeons flying in the austral forests. Today its hunting is forbidden and the populations of Chilean Pigeon have begun to recover. It is possible to observe again flocks of more than 30 individuals. Even more important, the existence of Kono Torcaza Chilean Pigeon BIRDS OF THE FOREST MARGINS 126 kono and its habitat are beginning to be respected again, and the diverse, human cultural viewpoints in southern Chile andArgentina are being revalued today. * TheankawenuisoneofthefourlevelsintheorganizationofspaceaccordingtotheMapucheworldview.Itcorresponds to the aerial space between the wenumapu or celestial space, and the mapu or the land where we live. IDENTIFICATION 13-15” (34-38 cm) The largest native pigeon. On its nape, it has a characteristic white, narrow semicollar, with metallic green plumage below. General purple brown plumage, except for the upperparts’ gray plumage on the back and coverts on the wings. Striking red iris and legs. HABITAT It inhabits the sclerophyllous woodlands, Valdivian rainforests, North Patagonian and other forest types, as well as the vicinity of farmlands, between Vallenar (28o S) and Taitao (47o S). HABITS Gregarious, and its flocks feed and nest on the canopy of trees. Their nests consist of a platform of sticks, placed among the branches of a medium-height tree, where they lay one or two eggs per reproductive season. Its cooing is a characteristic deep doubled hooo-HOOOO hoo-HOOO, preceded by a guttural sound PRRRRR. DIET It feeds on a variety of fruits on trees, such as lingue (Persea lingue), boldo (Peumus boldus), peumo (Cryptocaria alba) and mañío (Podocarpus nubigena), or shrubs, such as maqui (Aristotelia chilensis) and quilo (Muehlenbeckia hastulata). CONSERVATION Vulnerable species (according to the Chilean Red Book of Fauna), and endemic to the temperate forests of South America (its distribution is restricted to the Endemic Bird Areas 060 and 061, Birdlife International). V Yahgan: out of bird’s range Mapudungun: Kono, Konun, Turcasa, Cono Spanish: Torcaza, Paloma araucana English: Chilean Pigeon Scientific...