The little Laughing dove arrives at 5pm every day to come and eat.
A very short preening session, as he was cleaning himself before dinner, before another downpour started.
I have two bird species in here for you to enjoy. First the Laughing dove (Spilopelia senegalensis), and then a Cape Spurfowl family (Pternistis capensis).
My mom would not let us ever sit at the table, unless we had cleaned up first. She was also a bird lover, and obviously nature taught her many things, such as the wildlife cleaning themselves before and after they have eaten. So, I can blame the birds for all of the hidings that I scored for not washing my hands. But such was life. Nature holds the same lesson, as her residents preen (clean) themselves regular every day. We have the fiercest of gale storm winds here lately, and they drive the rain clouds around at top speed. The rain clouds are intermittent, as there are short breaks between them, and it is during the breaks that the birds rush out to find food.
Then rain started again, and he had to eat very fast.
A family of Cape Spur Fowls also arrived.
The parent gave me a critical look.
But then she decided that I was okay, and they ignored me.
I loved how the one at the back shook its head to get the raindrops off.
Orange legs and beaks, so lovely.
How do I know that the little laughing dove is a male? Well, we have 3 couples of ringneck doves also here, and the laughing dove is much smaller than them. So, when the ringnecks come to join the laughing dove gets very cheeky, and he runs toward them to chase them away from his food. If it was a female laughing dove, much smaller than the male, she wouldn’t chase the ringnecks, and she would simply abandon the food and fly away. Not the male though, as he is another kettle of fish for the ringnecks to deal with carefully, I have to say. It’s amazing to see how the smaller critters in nature defend themselves against the bigger bullies. We had a little Chihuahua doggy that thought he was a Rottweiler, as he would even challenge Pitbull dogs.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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