For the past couple of seasons, there has been a single male Wonga Pigeon in
residence, around the outskirts of the town of Pomona (northern Sunshine
Coast Hinterland). This year he has been visiting the vicinity of our
property regularly and for a few days last week, I was very surprised to
find that he had been spending time in our garage (which is also my
husband's workshop). I only discovered this because on several occasions
when I walked in one of the open doors, he would fly out the other one. But
one day, before he saw me, I actually heard his little feet tapping around
on something in there, but unfortunately he flew out before I could see what
he was doing.
Over the weekend my husband came down full of excitement to tell me that he
had been working in there, when he looked up to see the Pigeon walking back
and forth across the bonnet of my car and peering into the lower part of the
windscreen - obviously at his own reflection. He then jumped down onto the
floor, puffed himself up and gave a few calls, and flew outside to a nearby
perch, where he went into a very elaborate display ritual which included
fanning out his tail, raising the feathers on his back, spreading his wings
and bobbing his head. This was all accompanied by a call more like a deep
"hooooo", than his usual repeated call. He spent the rest of the day and
most of this morning calling forlornly and constantly.
To our knowledge, in all the time he has lived in this vicinity, he has
never had a mate, and we base this assumption on the fact that his call (we
have never heard any answering call - does the female answer???) has been
heard coming from several different locations spread over the entire area of
the town, throughout the breeding season for the past 2 years at least. The
habitat around Pomona is mostly very dry Eucalypt forest - quite a lot of
which is owned by the State Forestry.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Jenny Bradford, Pomona, Qld
Jenny B's Flower & Crystal Essences
http://www.spiderweb.com.au/~jennyb/
"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds"
(Einstein)
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