The chestnut-quilled rock pigeon (Petrophassa rufipennis ) is a dark sooty brown pigeon with a distinctive bright chestnut patch on its wing visible in flight. It has distinctive pale lines across its face curving above and below its eye. A species of bird in the family Columbidae, it is very similar in behaviour and habitat to the white-quilled rock pigeon but it is only found on rocky escarpments in western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The chestnut-quilled rock pigeon is a dark sooty brown pigeon with a distinctive bright chestnut patch on its wing visible in flight. This patch is often hidden in the folded wing.
The pigeon has a wingspan of 138 to 155 mm (5.4 to 6.1 in), a bill measuring 11.0 to 14.5 mm (0.43 to 0.57 in) and weighs between 130 and 178 grams (4.6 and 6.3 oz).
It has black lores and pale spots on the head and neck, chin and throat is whitish. Fine grey lines extend around the eye "extending from above bill and turning over and behind eye; the other from base of bill passing below eye and beneath ear-coverts.": 296
The pigeon is most often seen when flushed, in pairs or small groups, from a rocky ledge. They fly with loud clapping wing-beats often straight up from a gorge. This typical behaviour was observed by Leichardt in the first recorded observation of the species:
The pigeon's Northern Territory Conservation Status is listed as Near Threatened (NT) while the IUCN Red List identifies the pigeon's conservation status as Least Concern (LC).
The chestnut-quilled rock pigeon shares a distinctive jizz and habitat type with the white-quilled rock pigeon, but are limited in extent to the sandstone country of Arnhem Land and Kakadu.
