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Geopelia striata
Gray bird, 22-24 cm long, with black beak and black, brown and white markings on its feathers.
Suburban neighborhood on tropical upland plateau.
Spotted resting on a driveway at the edge of a sidewalk in a suburban development. This individual was quite lethargic, and probably distressed in some way, through there were no obvious signs of physical injury. It allowed me, and my leashed grand-dog, to approach within a couple of feet, which is certainly not normal behavior, before it bestirred itself and flew off a slight distance.
Thanks Malcolm. The links were very interesting, though the issue of keeping doves as pets was not answered authoritatively, with citations of specific sections statute or administrative rules. One thing is certain, they are very common in Hawaii. Also, to follow upon one item in the first link, viz., foot and toe damage, I have noted over the years, without making a study of it, what appears to be many doves walking about with one or more toes missing. The occurrence of this condition seems to be more frequent than what I would regard as random, but I don't know enough either about dove biology or the environment in which doves exist to be able to formulate a hypothesis as to its cause.
Very common in general and there are some in Hawaii but I don't know how common there. There is more general information here: http://www.diamonddove.info/bird10a%20Ze...
while this is specific to Hawaii: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index...
Interesting idea. I did not note a leg band, though I wasn't looking. In addition, I've not heard of doves being kept as pets hereabouts, though I lack any expert knowledge on the subject. Certainly, one sometimes sees escaped birds, but they are fairly obvious as they do not normally exist in the wild.
It could be an escaped pet, that is how they were likely introduced there in the first place. Did it have any rings on its legs? Caged birds are fed a different diet to wild birds usually and diet can affect colouring of the feathers. Just a thought.
Thanks Malcolm. Despite how this species may behave elsewhere, "normal local behavior" is for them to take flight if anyone approaches within ten feet, ruling out the easy acquisition of close-up imagery. The behavior of this individual was not locally normal.
Zebra Doves, also known as Peaceful Doves, can sometimes appear extremely tame, especially in areas where they are not persecuted. They are easily approachable to within arms length to photograph at times. I have almost trodden on them when they have been quietly feeding in long grass.
They are resident only in Indonesia, Malaysia/Singapore and parts of S. Thailand but introduced to many islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Thanks, lads. I've edited the spotting to reflect Zebra Dove as the ID. Of note, most of these doves have a hint of "Carolina blue" on the "forehead" feathers which is not clearly visible, if it's there at all, in this spotting. Perhaps that lack of color is in some way symptomatic if whatever made it so lethargic.