11th of April 2014 – Species Spotlight – Emerald Dove

To celebrate being on Holiday visiting the In-Laws in Ireland this weeks spotlight focuses on
 
Emerald Dove (see what I did there!)
Chalcophaps indica

 
Emerald, or Green, Doves are widespread throughout much of the Indian sub-continent including parts of Thailand, Malaysia & Indonesia.  They are also found in Australia. They tend to prefer areas of dense forest where they are often found foraging for food on the ground.
The preferred diet is fallen fruit but they will also take various seeds from many different plants.  They are of least concern in terms of population.
The name is derived from the bright Emerald green wings and back of the birds.  They also have beautiful bright red bills.  Males can be distinguished from the females by white shoulder patches and a grey crown on the head.
Emerald Doves are quite territorial.  Males will perform a bobbing dance for courtship and a small twig nest will be built.  A maximum of 2 white eggs are produced and incubated solely by the female for approximately 14 days.  Chicks hatch pratically bald and are completly reliant on the parents.  The young fledge at 12 days of age

 
We currently house 7 Emerald Doves in the Discovery Zone.  This is the adult pair plus 5 young from last year.  We are looking to move the youngsters on before breeding again.
 
No news this week as I am away except that the Hatchery is now up and running for the public.  We still need a few more eggs and chicks to fill the pens but it’s looking great
We are also as of Saturday experimenting with 2 penguin feeds a day, with a morning feed at 11am
 
I’ll update fully next week