EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Pigeon Speckled and Displaying

Speckled Pigeon (Columba g. guinea)
Thomson's Falls, Kenya

Explanation:  This striking pigeon -- a common resident of central Africa -- sports a red skin patch around its golden yellow eyes, and triangular speckles of white on the wing.  

But also look at the breast feathers in these two photos.  Is this a territorial display?  Or a mate-attraction display?  

Or does it serve some other function?  

Perhaps extending the breast feathers in this manner can help cool the body by allowing air to better flow over the skin beneath.  Such a function would be termed behavioral thermoregulation.

Or perhaps this behavior serves several such functions!  

Sometimes a behavior, or anatomical feature, evolves for one function but then serves others as well, in which case it may be selected for even more quickly.