Pet Woodies – Native Wood Pigeons

I wondered what was I going to write about. Would it really be that important.

The two native wood pigeons answered by flying in to perch right outside my window.  Looking one directly in the eye I knew, yes, I was still to write about the “Woodies”.

But everyone has pet wood pigeons “They are so friendly – it won’t be news”, but Pigeons apparently carry the news.

They’ve stopped cooing now, but for two months they did lots of it, as they got to know each other.  The male performed magnificent aerial climbs and falling swoops showing his talents to his intended. She used to take off if he got to close, and they’d fly to the top of the tallest tree, which they both agreed was the coolest place to be.

We had thought they were two adolescent males, but their madness was not just youth, it was love.

First they plonked their heavy weights in the middle of our blackcurrants breaking branches outwards. Soothing talk whenever we saw them eating forest berries helped them learn what food was theirs.

Then I cleared a hanging curtain of mulenbeckia exposing a bare branch of Tree Fuchsia that has become one of their favourite perches.

They would always move on quickly if we thought to take their photographs so we don’t have any usable pics.

They like to tell us who’s in command of our clearing by swooping really close. This encourages us to stay in our place in case we get our heads knocked off!

Being young they have learned new things like standing on the ground to eat the currants (until we asked them no to do that too) and talking to us. The male has also been seen to loop the loop, flapping furiously so as he topped his climb upside down, and made the circle.

Now that David and Lorraine have been at Harmony, in the upper Waitati Valley, several years maybe it has been that their parents told them those people are safe to live with.  We have certainly never met such people oriented Woodies.

We enjoy the company of our “pet” wood pigeons.

David Baillie
Harmony Forest