“A pair of Laughing Doves (Spilopelia senegalensis) is perching on an Indian Gooseberry a.k.a amla (Phyllanthus emblica) plant in our garden. They are the only birds living in or visiting our garden that stay perched at a single spot several minutes at a time. They are very peaceful to be around, often looking into the distance meditatively.
“Sparrows and tailor birds in contrast, hop around all the time. I shot this from inside a room so you don’t hear bird sounds. Instead, you hear the movement of the clock hand! I read on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that ‘Males have favorite “cooing perches” they defend from other males. Members of a pair preen each other with gentle nibbles around the neck as a pair-bonding ritual. Eventually, the pair will progress to grasping beaks and bobbing their heads up and down in unison.'”
Anjana Mehta
Rajasthan, India
30th December 2018
Editor’s note: The YouTube video shows a pair of Laughing Doves which the contributor identified as Mourning Doves which are found in North America.
2 responses
Both the bird and the plant identified in the description are wrong. Mourning Doves are only found in North America. Those are Laughing Doves _Spilopelia senegalensis_ and that plant is Indian Gooseberry _Phyllanthus emblica_ , not Gooseberry _Ribes uva-crispa_ I suspect that the author used Google Lens for identification and then googled the scientific names (and forgot the ‘Indian’ in the Gooseberry).
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your comments. I have taken note and corrected the post.
Best regards,
Lee Wei, Teo