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In the upper Mowbray Valley west of Port
Douglas, NQ Superb fuit-doves nested in numbers over December-January with
little success.In an area of 1.5 hectares I located seven nesting pairs and
there were probably others in the immediate locale.
Of those seven nests only two
went full term. One male was killed at the nest as his wing primary
feathers were found underneath along with the egg. This is unusual due to the
waryness of the males who do the daytime shift when brooding.
On a second roadside nest the
egg was taken on the thirteenth night of a fourteen day brooding
period.
On a third nest after a week the
egg was left on the nest in sun and rain after a week. Laughing Kookaburras were
feeding young nearby and didn't take this egg which we suspected may have been
the case. The white fruit-dove egg would have been easy to see.
The two successful nests were
the one that were better hidden in shaded locations than the majority of the
others.
I think that the other two
unsuccesful nests just didn't hold the eggs for long enough. The construction
surely wouldn't pass local council specification. I firmly believe that the
female says to the male "I am laying an egg tomorrow, where are we going to put
it"? As a result a completed nest may have less than twenty thin twigs in it's
construction!
Also in the same area two pairs
of Wompoo Fruit-doves nested and only one breeding effort produced a young.
Their nesting stands a better chance as they tend
to use vine tendrils in the nests which when dry hold the twigs in place.
From the continued calling in
the vicinity they all could be breeding again.
Del. Richards, Fine Feather Tours, Mossman,
NQ.
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