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Saw four Topknot Pigeons in Mapleton Forest (SE
Qld, in hills west of Nambour) yesterday, 1st February. Nothing
terribly exciting about that, excepting that it was two nesting pairs, and I had
never seen even one nest before. The higher nest was on a very
substantial branch of a majestic Eucalyptus grandis, and the other was about six
metres below in a different tree. (Am useless on tree identification, so
can't say what type!) The forest is wet sclerophyll. The
females (?) were sitting on the nests, and the males were finding and breaking
off untidy twigs in trees about 100 metres away, then returning with them at
regular intervals. The nests appeared almost complete, and a better
structure than the usual pigeon nest, so hopefully we'll be able to check
them in a couple of weeks. My main worry is that yesterday and a
month ago, a Brown Goshawk was perched quite nearby. I do hope it is
not drooling over the future menu!
Do Topknot Pigeons normally nest so
close? Would love to hear from anyone with experiences and
knowledge. The nests were not easy to see, and the friend with me never
did find the second nest. I happened to see one bird in flight with
a twig, so followed it with the binoculars.
Robyn
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