Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Builders - Final Report
So yesterday I opened the curtains to see a dove land on the building site only to realise that overnight the anchors had been dislodged. The pathetic remnants were strewn over the veranda. They obviously hadn't secured them properly and now have abandoned the site. Looking at the bits of twig it's easy to see that it would never have withstood even a slight gust. We've had a number of doves build successful nests here and I have to say I've never seen anything less suitable as building material. They seem to have given up now so maybe I should have helped them. As it is they haven't enough time to build before she will have to lay so I doubt the babies will survive. Yes, they are feral and shouldn't be here but they don't do any damage unlike the gorgeous rainbow lorikeets which are multiplying very quickly and literally pushing out the native parrots by climbing into the hollows that both like to breed in and and throwing out eggs and babies.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Doves are not very good nesters, I've discovered. They choose silly places for their homes. Atop one of our patio piers, they leave messy nests teetering in the edge even though they are laden with a precious cargo of eggs, one of which inevitably falls... to be enjoyed by our cat.
In spite of this negligence, the suburbs teem with these funny birds, whose pink and grey mottle delights us, and whose loud and silly calls irritate us when we are sitting out with a book.
I can so relate, Helen.
I agree, Rosanne. When you look at their nests you'd wonder how any babies survive but we have had four successful nestings where this pair came to grief.
Post a Comment