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BirdLife International has revised the IUCN Red List status of three pigeon species (01-06-2005):

Thick-billed Ground-dove Gallicolumba salamonis:
Upgraded from Critically Endangered to Extinct.
Thick-billed Ground-dove is known from just two specimens from the Solomon Islands, one taken in 1882 and the other in 1927. All surveys looking for this species failed to find any individuals and the species is not known to landowners. There is now no longer any reasonable doubt that the last individual has died, probably some time ago.

Slaty Cuckoo-dove Turacoena modesta
Downgraded from Vulnerable to Near Threatened.
Slaty Cuckoo-dove occur on Timor-Leste, West Timor and Wetar (Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia), where it is generally uncommon or rare. A paucity of recent records, despite extensive searching, suggested a marked decline has occurred in West Timor, however, recent survey work in Timor-Leste revealed it to be frequent in a wide range of habitats.

Plain Pigeon Columba inornata:
Downgraded from Vulnerable to Near Threatened.
Plain Pigeon was once abundant and widespread in the Caribbean, but has undergone considerable declines. In the Dominican Republic, extensive searches in 1986 failed to find the species. However, it has been recently described as locally common, especially in the Sierra de Baoruco. In Haiti, there have been reports of birds in significant numbers, although numbers in Hispaniola overall are not reported to be increasing.

Click here to view a list of all the threatened species of pigeon.

Note that Birdlife have now adopted the AOU '2003' taxonomic revisions (see Banks et al 2003) in which New World pigeons formerly included in Columba in a separate genus, Patagioenas Reichenbach, 1853.

In addition, the English name of Columba livia has changed to Rock Pigeon to conform to the recent name change by the British Ornithologists’ Union (1992).

(NOTE: BirdLIfe do not yet recognise the AOU '2004' changes (Banks et al 2004) in their list of threatened pigeon species. There was one change, the separation of the Hispaniolan and Cuban populations of the Gray-headed Quail-Dove Geotrygon caniceps into two species: Geotrygon caniceps Gray-fronted Quail-Dove (Cuba) and Geotrygon leucometopia White-fronted Quail-Dove (Hispaniola) on the basis of differences in mensural characters, plumage, and habitat preference. Birdlife, however, do list the new species on their threatened list, both as Near Threatened).

Banks R.C., Cicero C., Dunn J.L., Kratter A.W., Rasmussen P.C., Remsen J.V., Rising J.D., Stotz D.F. (2003) Forty-fourth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 120(3): 923-931.

Banks R.C., Cicero C., Dunn J.L., Kratter A.W., Rasmussen P.C., Remsen J.V., Rising J.D., Stotz D.F. (2004) Forty-fifth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 121(3): 985-995.

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