As I took the pup for a walk through the industrial type estate across the road I stopped to admire 5 perfectly positioned Peaceful Doves on the power line. (How's that for alliteration) I adore Peaceful Doves! As I heard the sweet voice of Double-Barred Finches I watched as they landed on the fence next to a Bar-Shouldered Dove. Then came the familiar sound I had not yet heard in the Top End, the Rainbow Bee-eater! He landed on the power line next to another Peaceful Dove and tapped his prey on the line. He dropped it, then in a split second dove down and caught the bug once again. A bit further away on the fence amongst the array of birds I saw a reddish colour. Ah a Crimson Finch I thought, as they're usually about. In fact it was a Chestnut-Breasted Mannikin, and a pair landed closer to me on the fence. Only the second time I've seen them! Very exciting! When I eventually allowed my patient pup to drag me away we had to make a run for it from a rogue nesting Masked Lapwing.
End rant!
Morning grohlster, as they say: "close enough is not good enough" I have been there many times, that's why I (almost) never go without the camera. Or at least it is close by.
M-L
Ha ha ...a delightful story Grohlster .... and yes..... most of us have the bruises on our shins where we have kicked ourselves under similar circumstances .
Our pups have to learn patience don't they? I cannot walk much at the moment but when I was walking last summer the patient labrador would spend hours in the bush with me ...watching and waiting and lying down when all else failed to budge me!
A delightful array of birds, I love the Peaceful doves and have only seen one in the wild once. the rest are familiar to me and especially the manic nesting Masked Lapwing lol ..... they are ferocious aren't they ?
Thansk for sharing your tale .... a lesson well learned ( but will probably be repeated many times)
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Usually when taking the pup for a walk I exclaim why didn't I bring my bino's or the camera!
I often have my phone with me and use the camera on that, but the quality is poor.
What a patience pup you have! My little girl is usually my apprentice twitcher and doesn't mind watching the birds with me, but she had just made a friend and was very exciteable and hyper.
Peaceful Doves really are so sweet. I had the opportunity of holding one when I was helping a research scientist with a mistnetting project. I untangled the bird and got a close up look of it's beautiful powdery blue eyes. Where did you happen to see one in the wild Birdie? They were everywhere in the Kimberley where I was working.
And yes the Masked Lapwings have been going nuts at the moment! We've been swooped a few times but I try to avoid them as I don't want my dog to create and aversion or fear of birds.
I saw a Peaceful Dove once right in front of my car as I was parked under the trees next to a creek at the dog beach at Coolum here on the coast, and they are similar to the Bar Shouldered Dove with their barring markings but not their colour.
Actually I do not own the lovely labrador but I just walk him and he loves it all. He was very bored and showoing behaviour problems as he was in a backyard with elderly owners and though he got lots of love he didn't get enough activity. I used to walk past every day and he would bark at me .. so we fixed that up by becoming mates. I love him to bits he is a big black mischief maker! But a quick learner and I have never had a problem with him standing when I need him to freeze!!!
Sunshine Coast Queensland