“I am always interested in the food sources of doves, especially the Spotted Dove (Stigmatopelia chinensis) (above) and Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata). They seem to live on ‘fresh air and sunshine’.
“Often their food source is too small to be observed, even with a video, and are assumed to be predominantly seeds. I am fairly certain, after numerous observations, that they feed on the remains/scraps of fruiting ficus and are often found at the base of these trees to pick up remnants.
“This week I saw 6 Spotted Doves feeding at the edge of a mining pool that was being used for fish farming. The farmers throw this rich food/fertilise-like material at the end of the pond for the fish but many birds come to feed on it (Mynas, Pond Herons, Egrets), presumably looking for worms.
“The Spotted Doves were actively feeding on yellow-orange fibrous material interspersed in the fish food. I suspect this is Palm Oil (Elaeis guyeensis) fruit (mesocarp or pulp) which has been mixed into the feed (above, below).
Video recording below:
“I have previously reported Zebra Dove feeding on Palm Oil fruit, see: HERE. See also: HERE.
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
30th January 2018
Location: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Habitat: Fish farming at city fringe, ex-mining pools
2 Responses
Amar is absolutely correct in pointing out that the food source of Spotted Doves is sometimes too small to be observed. I feed wild birds twice a day. Servings include commercial chicken feed.
Though the commercial chicken feed is manufactured in the form of pellets, when stock is old, or when it has been roughly handled, the pellets break down into powder.
When a serving of chicken feed is poured onto my concrete driveway, a large brown patch forms. Dozens, sometimes over a hundred diners will arrive. Spotted Doves always make up the majority. They will be accompanied by my resident pair of White Breasted Waterhens (Amauornis phoenicurus), and a Foreign Talent White Crested Laughing Thrush (Garrulax leulocolophus).
After the dominant birds have eaten their fill and left, the subordinates and the juveniles will still be busily pecking away at the concrete.
They are an excellent clean-up crew. Though the grains of powdered chicken feed are almost microscopic, the birds manage to find almost every speck. Within an hour or two there would be no trace that chicken feed had ever been poured on my driveway. This shows that they not only have very sharp vision but are also extremely dexterous with their beaks.
By the way, because birds are known to have extremely sharp vision, there was a project once to train pigeons to pick out defects on an assembly line. It was said that the pigeons were very good at the job.
I feed mixed millet seeds (ordered online) and spotted doves wait (on my roof) for their twice daily feeds. Hope it works for them (recommended by bird store) and birds do finish kgs of these seeds every month.