Orange-breasted Green-Pigeon

This is a species of forest and is widely distributed from the Terai and lower Himalayas (below 1,500 m (4,900 ft)) south mainly in the Western and Eastern Ghats and in Sri Lankan forests not far from the coast. They are found in Burma, Thailand the Malay Peninsula, Vietnam, Java and Hainan. Some seasonal movements are suspected as vagrants have been recorded from locations like Sindh.

Orange-breasted green pigeons usually occur singly or in small groups. Its flight is fast and direct, with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are characteristic of pigeons in general. They eat seeds and fruits of a wide variety of plants often joining other frugivores at fruiting figs, foraging by slowly walking along branches. They are known to feed on Strychnos nux-vomica, the fruits of which are toxic to mammals. They are sometimes seen on the ground. Their call is a low subdued series of modulated wandering whistles. Males fight with each other during the breeding season, slapping each other with their wing and pecking each other. The breeding season in India is March to September but mainly before June. In Sri Lanka, they breed mainly from December to May. The nest is the typical flimsy platform of a few twigs in which two white eggs are laid. Both sexes incubate and eggs hatch in about 12 to 14 days.