Thursday 30 September 2010

Torres Strait Pigeons - New Home

The Torres Strait Pigeons used to arrive in Darwin about this time of year [very early pre- wet season], stay for the wet season, and leave in February or March.


They seem to now be permanently here, or at least there are many now who seem to make Darwin home. In Darwin house yards we have an abundance of palms trees, especially Carpentaria palms and they absolutely love to eat the medium sized, bright, red seeds. These seeds are quite acidic, and the pulp around the seed can burn your hands.........they love to eat that and then drop or sometimes excrete the actual seed kernel, along with some acidic waste pulp. That material can lift paint off cars!!


There has however, been much ado in our backyard lately........a breeding pair of the pigeons has established a nest in a palm tree in the back yard. Since residency has been established, we have had two significant storms along with very strong winds in front of the storm rain. They do seem secure in the site now.



Very early days..........definitely no eggs yet.


Watch this space for updates.




It is unusual, as I cannot remember seeing Torres Strait pigeons breeding in our yard before, yet we have had plenty of palms. We have a few large trees, so bird nests are not unusual, but most of the nests seem to be those of honeyeaters, another common bird in backyards.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi. you maybe interested to know we have a active nest only three meters away from eye level out side our highset Queenslander.(Cairns)
Its about week 4 and there is a new born (3 days old). The female and male swop looking after the nest from time to time. Usually just the female. The bird just sits there day after day. We are a little bit worried that there will be a big storm that harms their routine, as it is a early wet season at the moment. The palm they are in is a Chinese fan palm. If this is of interest we can keep you updated with the progress.
Darcy & Miho.