I’ve suspected that
Crested Pigeons were breeding near our place for some time. Often, particularly
after rain, courtship displays are common and calling seems ongoing. During
foggy winter days their resonant ooming, whooping calls add an ethereal quality
to the brick veneer ambience of West Belconnen. A couple of weeks ago a pair
carried on with a lengthy courtship interlude right outside the lounge room
window and continued through with the coupling which, compared to many
lickitysplit avian liaisons, was a rather unhurried affair of about 15 seconds
A few days later I noticed a Crested Pigeon carrying twigs into a street tree,
but try as we did we couldn’t see where the nest was.
This morning I found a tiny fledgling
dead on the grass beneath our street tree. I believe it had only recently
fledged. HANZAB states that fledgling occurs at 15 days and after 15 -16 days they
begin to sit on twigs near nest returning to nest at night. Three to four days
later they leave nest tree. Spend next few days on ground under shelter of
dense growth. My guess is this little one met its fate yesterday while branch
sitting during gusty winds and died in the hot sun.
John K. Layton.
