Here at Durrell we try and breed as many Pink pigeons as we
can. Something I haven’t told you yet is that they can be somewhat clumsy
parents. They tend to build nests with only a few twigs so when they lay their
eggs (usually 2) they can sometimes fall through the bottom of the nest. To
stop this, we give the pigeons a platform to build their nests on so that their
eggs wont fall to the ground if they happen to make hopeless nests!
Last year we were able to breed 5 Pink pigeons which we were very proud of.
Something else the Pink pigeons aren't very good at is incubating their eggs. Once a bird lays an egg, in order for the egg to develop and hatch into a chick, the parent needs to sit on the egg, we call this 'incubation'. As the pigeons aren't very good at this either (they tend to kick the eggs out of the nest so they smash on the floor), we take their eggs once they are laid and place them underneath another kind of dove. Below you'll see a picture of one of our white doves that we use to raise our Pink pigeon squabs. (A squab is a baby pigeon). This works really well, and all our Pink pigeon squabs from last year were raised this way.
I'll be speaking to you later today so please feel free to ask me any questions about our Pink pigeons. I look forward to seeing you all.
Hi Catherine can 8.4 please ask......
ReplyDeleteHow many pink pigeons is there left?
What do Pink pigeons like to eat?
Do they build their nests up high in the tree or low?
What hunts them?
Why are they called pink pigeons as they are not completely pink?
If one escaped how far could it fly?
Do they like to be in hot countries?
Can you not breed them with a normal pigeon?
Can you race them?
Thanks very much
Good morning 8.4. I'm glad you got in touch and asked me some questions. I hope I can answer them all for you. There are between 350-400 Pink pigeons left in Mauritius. This is an incredible improvement from only 20 birds in the 1980s. Proof that with hard work and preserverence can help a species.
DeleteThey love to walk to the very end of branches on trees and eat budding flowers, leaves and fruit. Here at Durrell we try and copy this diet that they would eat in the wild.
If possible they will build their nests high up in the trees. They will find twigs on the forest floor and then fly up and build their nest. Usually it's the male bringing the twigs to the female who does the interior decorating of the nest!
Thankfully people don't hunt Pink pigeons in Mauritius. But there are lots of cats and rats and even monkeys that steal the pigeons' eggs. This is a real problem and a lot of work is being done in Mauritius to try and control these mammals from stealing the eggs.
Pink pigeons have this beautiful bright pink ring around their eyes, and their chests are a pale pink. The pinkest pigeon I have ever seen!
If one escaped from Durrell it could fly quite far, but as birds are driven by food and the opposite sex, I don't think they would fly far before coming home to find dinner and their mate :o)
Birds adapt very well to hot climates. We do think of Mauritius as a hot topical Island, and indeed it is around the Coast on the beaches, but I was up in the forest and it is much cooler their. However birds cope with the heat better than us I think sometimes.
There is another species of dove in Mauritius that live in the same forests, but they have never been known to breed with one another. Birds are very clever at identifying who are members of their own species and breeding with them.
It is true that people do race pigeons, but these are pigeons that have been bred for generations for that exact task. Our Pink pigeons we like to leave them to live as they please, exploring their aviaries, wandering around the floor looking for that perfect twig to build a nest for those precious Pink pigeon squabs (baby pigeons).
Please keep asking questions if you wish, I'll try and post some more pictures later.
Bye!
Hi Catherine
DeleteThats great
Good luck with the rest of your work there.
We enjoyed reading your responses.
Thanks again
Class 8.4
Hi Catherine
ReplyDeleteThank you for skyping us the other day. Can class 8.1 ask......
Are the pink pigeons dying out in the same way the kestral is?
Does the extinction has anything to do with chemical toxins?
Do the Doves continue to mother the pink pigeon squabs after they have hatched?
Do the pink pigeons have any talents?
Do all pink pigeons look the same or are they different shades of pink?
How do you track the pigeons?
Thanks very much
Thank you for asking me your questions, I hope I can answer them for you....
ReplyDeleteThe Pink pigeon population in Mauritius is at around 400 birds. What seems to be limiting their population is available habitat. There are small populations of pigeons throughout the South of Mauritius and they seem to have run out of space to increase in numbers any further. What is going to happen next is to move some pigeons to new areas so that there is more space for the population to grow. This will happen in the next couple of years so we should see numbers increasing further.
Kestrels are in trouble at the moment due most likely to pesticides used on the sugar cane farms that are in Mauritius. The kestrel population declined so much that only 5 birds survived, and of those only one female-so now all offspring have come from that one female, quite incredible really.
Pesticides don't seem to be effecting the Pink pigeon, rats and cats stealing eggs is more of a problem.
After a pigeon hatches, it stays on the nest being fed by its parents until it's about 3 weeks old. It then jumps out of the nest, which is called 'fledging', and is still fed by its parents for another couple of weeks whilst it is learning to find food and eat for itself.
The Pink pigeon is quite a reserved bird, it doesn't have a big display to attract a mate, it merely bows and coos to try and impress its female. They are very beautiful pigeons, which some may say is a talent!
The healthier the bird the brighter the pink around the eye and on the beak, a good sign to check for when looking at birds to see how fit they are.
In Mauritius all the pigeons have coloured rings on their legs. Once they fledge they are caught up in an aviary and ringed with their coloured bands. This means that when looking at them through binoculars you can tell which bird is which. To find them in the forest, you have to just walk and walk until you hear one, hard work but a lot of fun :o)