Crested Pigeon parental care

[Syd Curtis <>]

Hello again Nina,

>             You asked:
>
> What I would like to know is: do Crested Pigeons (or pigeons in general) share nesting duties or is it just one of the parents? During March I observed both parents in the tree several times, but since the young has fledged I've only seen one parent with it (the two of them roost in the wattle everyday at midday). 
 
And Russell Woodford has suggested someone should consult HANZAB for you.  From no responses before, you'll probably be inundated now.  C'est la vie!

HANZAB, Vol. 3, at p. 906:

> "Parental care  Both sexes build nest, incubate and care for young (Baldwin 1976);"
The reference given is in Sunbird - 7: 59-64.  

I don't have Sunbird, nor do I have easy access to an appropriate library, so over to someone else, to check whether Baldwin says anything more that's worth passing on to you.

BTW, Russell wrote:
> Crested Pigs are a favourite of mine, partly because they have recently 
> expanded into my home area.  They now breed here on the Geelong 
> Grammar, Corio campus.

Also favourites of mine.  I first met them when holidaying on a cattle property north of Jandowae in 1943.  My daughter lives on a farm near the Warwick  airstrip, and they nest in their garden, too.   But only in recent years, have they graced our suburb (Hawthorne) here in Brisbane, though Harry Frith, in his 1982 book Pigeons and Doves of Australia, says of its status in Queensland, "It is now common all down the coast south of Brisbane."

Recently I encountered an amusing situation.  In a local suburban park, a Crested Pigeon was pecking at a discarded piece of what I took to be bread, and a Noisy Miner was standing watching apparently not game to take on the pigeon.  I couldn't make up my mind whether the Noisy Miner was letting down his species' reputation for aggressiveness, or whether I was watching a particularly strong-minded pigeon.

Harry Frith may well have had a special regard for them too, for it is a Crested Pigeon  that is featured on the dust jacket of his book.

Cheers

Syd