The pale-capped pigeon (Columba punicea) also known as the purple wood pigeon is a species of large pigeon that is found patchily distributed in parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has a slow flight and spends a lot of time sitting still in the foliage of large fruiting trees, often in riverine forest on the plains. It is mainly brown above and chestnut below with the a sheen of green or amethyst. Males have a whitish grey cap while females have a brownish grey cap and less gloss on the feathers. They are frugivores, foraging in small groups in the canopy of trees but sometimes descending to the ground for seeds and fallen fruit.
This large 36–40.5 cm-long pigeon is all-dark chestnut brown with a contrasting pale crown. The male has whitish-grey crown, purplish-maroon upperparts with faint green gloss on the neck; more strongly iridescent mantle and back; dark slate-coloured rump and uppertail-coverts; vinous-brown ear-coverts, throat and underparts[ slaty-grey undertail-coverts; and blackish tail and flight feathers. Females have a more brownish-grey crown. Juveniles initially have the crown colour matching the mantle, duller wing-coverts and scapulars with rufous fringes, a much reduced gloss on the upperparts and greyer underparts. The legs are crimson and iris is creamy-yellow in adults. The skin around the eyes and the ceres are magenta.
Some taxonomists have grouped it along with Columba argentina which are both Old World pigeons that lack patterns on the back of the neck.
.
The pale-capped pigeon is very locally distributed across its broad range, which encompasses parts of northern and northeastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The type specimen was collected in Chaibasa, Singhbhum, India but relatively few records exist from Peninsular India. Records of the species exist from Maharahtra, Orissa, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh (Araku valley). Observers considered it a seasonal visitor in Sri Lanka. In some parts of Thailand, they are winter visitors and birds have been seen roosting in mangroves far from the mainland.
.
The pale-capped pigeon is very locally distributed across its broad range, which encompasses parts of northern and northeastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The type specimen was collected in Chaibasa, Singhbhum, India but relatively few records exist from Peninsular India. Records of the species exist from Maharahtra, Orissa, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh (Araku valley). Observers considered it a seasonal visitor in Sri Lanka. In some parts of Thailand, they are winter visitors and birds have been seen roosting in mangroves far from the mainland.