Hi All,
Peaceful Doves are notorious for building flimsy nests that disappear with
the first gust of wind. I was therefore anxious last Sunday night when
cyclone Tessi hit Townsville. A a nest with two young (with pin-feathers)
was in a Swamp Bloodwood E. ptychocarpa, only two metres from my verandah.
It looked more substantial than usual built right on top of a cluster of
very large seed capsules. However on Monday morning the two and the nest
were miraculously still there though very wet, hardly moving and now fully
exposed as other branches had fallen. They survived the teeming rain all day
and were occasionally brooded by an equally bedraggled looking adult. On
Tuesday they were moving round and were fed by parent and today have been
preening, wing-stretching, feeding and perching with occasional wing-flaps.
During the midday heat an adult spent several hours sheltering them from
the sun. So it looks like they'll survive to join the other 30 or so that
frequent my chook pen.
Jo Wieneke
Townsville
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