On 4th April 2013, Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS was at the fish and vegetable farming area around the ex-mining pools in Tambun Interior, Perak, Malaysia when he noticed an Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata). It was an adult male. He had between his mandibles a short piece of the epiphytic Dragon’s Scale Fern (Pyrrosia piloselloides) to be used as nest material. Note the wiry stem covered with short roots and a single frond sticking out from near the bird’s head.
The female was watching nearby. The nest was at approximately 5 meters in a starfruit tree (Averrhoa carambola) in an abandoned orchard. “I choose not to take any further images, including of the nest, as the birds were concerned with my presence,” wrote Amar.