We've just had a baby dove come into care, and aren't sure what sort of dove he is. We're hoping to reunite him with parents later today so it'd be nice to know!
This is the only picture of him so far.
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Hi
Depends on where it was found. If in suburbia it appears to be very much like a Spotted Dove, Streptopelia chinensis. Not a native, but I personally would help them for sure. :)
It was found near Gosford, NSW, sitting behind a fuel pump.
The outermost feathers on it's wings/tail are white if that helps.
It does resemble a SD. I have many pictures but not with me. Fuel pump you mean a servo right? Then most certainly SD. :)
Yeah, after googling it, it does look a lot like the baby spotted doves. I think you're right.
No luck on finding the parents, so I'm not sure what to do with it. I hate the thought of putting down a perfectly healthy animal but I think you're supposed to, technically, with the introduced species. This is a new situation for me.
Poor little fella. It's just learning to fly, so I think it had a first 'test flight' and got into trouble. Docile as anything and a lot more pleasant sounding than juvenile noisy miners, that's for sure!
If you have a largish aviary for it to stretch and learn to fly just keep it and keep it quiet. I know plenty of our members will help a SD but not Starlings or Indian Mynas. SDs are very quiet birds and fit nicely into a suburban scene. Sounds like a typical SD and it should be relatively easy to feed. Get the lid from a lipstick and use a granivore mix (Wombaroo is pretty good). And get some small seeds and chop alfalfa sprouts nicely and mix with the seed. Finch or small canary seed should be fine. They soon work out how to eat themselves. For the granivore mix in the lipstick lid just keep some cotton balls and some warm water handy as it is messy and once it gets on the feathers and dries the mix turns to concrete (well sort of). It's easy to clean as you go on feeding while holding the bird gently. good luck, they are little sweethearts if you ask me. :)