2001.07.20.

First Day Cover:

4 stamps

Printing: Offset lithography
Paper: - 102 gsm
Watermark: - unwatermarked
Gum: - Bluish of PVA
Stamp size: 31.75 x 48.26 mm
Perforation: 14 per 2cm
Designs: 69c - Barking Pigeon Ducula Latrans
89c - Pacific Pigeon Ducula Pacifica
$1.23 - White-throated Pigeon Columba Vitensis
$2.00 - Feral or Rock Pigeon Columba Livia
Designer: George Bennett
Author: Dick Walting
Printers: Joh Enschede Security Printers

Three native and one introduced pigeon are found in Fiji today. Formerly, one or more flightless giant pigeons existed in Fiji but these died out soon after humans first arrived in the islands with their predatory dogs, rats and pigs.

The Barking Pigeon Ducula Latrans is Fiji's sole endemic and most conspicuous pigeon. It is conspicuous not just because of its large size - Ducula pigeons are often called Imperial Pigeons because of this, but also because of its loud barking call. Easily mistaken for a dog, this call is commonly heard in the remaining forests of Fiji's larger and many intermediate-sized islands, and also on some smaller islands with good forests not too far from larger islands.

The Pacific Pigeon Ducula Pacifica is very widely distributed in the Pacific, from the coastal islands of Papua New Guinea, east to the Cook Islands and north to Kiribati. However, throughout this enormous range it is almost entirely confined to small islands, for instance, in Fiji it is not found on any island larger than Lakeba (56cm2). However, it seems that it is not island size which explains the absence of the Pacific Pigeon, rather it is the absence there of hawks of the genus Accipiter. Thus in Samoa, in the absence of these hawks, it is found on the large islands of Upolu and Savai'i.

The White-throated Pigeon Columba Vitiensis is also widespread in the southwest Pacific being found from Samoa through to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines. This is an attractive dark pigeon with a bright iridescent sheen in certain lights. In Fiji, it is common on the larger and many of the intermediate-sized islands but is the least conspicuous of the native pigeons. It is commonly called the Chilli Pigeon because of its fondness for feeding on chillies. Here it often encounters real problems, as chilli bushes are small and cannot usually bear the weight of hefty pigeons

The Feral or Rock Pigeon Columba Livia was first introduced to Fiji by missionaries in the 19th century but did not become well established until the 1950-60s. Today it is common in many towns and larger villages - still very much associated with human settlement and dependent on buildings for nesting sites.

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