About a month after the failed nesting of the pair of Pink-naped Green-pigeon (Treron vernans) in my Nam Nam (Cynometra cauliflora) tree LINK, there was another nesting in my Calabash Tree (Crescentia cujete). We could view the base of the nest as it was placed on horizontal branches about a metre from the ground. The head and tail of the green-pigeon resting in the nest could only just be seen from below. The nest was not visible from the sides due to the leaves.
Two pairs of egg shells were found on the base of the tree at an interval of a two days, indicating that two chicks had hatched. We heard the courtship calls of the green-pigeons during mornings and evenings when they adults changed shifts – the male taking the night and the female the day shift.
One evening there was a sound of leaves rustling around the nest and suddenly there was a burst of semi-plume feathers from the belly raining down as a green-pigeon flew out of the nest to a tree across the road. These belly feathers, loosely attached to the bird drop easily when the bird is frightened, an adaptation to scare off predators LINK. Something must have frightened the green-pigeon for it to exit the nest in such a manner.
That evening we found a helpless chick on the ground below the nest. We thought it best to place it in a container above ground out of reach of the stray cat that visited the garden at night. My helper Estela V Acierto thought it safer to place the chick on the nest. So she took a ladder and gently placed it on the nest. The nest was empty. There was no sign of the second chick (see video below).
Within less than an hour an adult was in the nest with the chick… The adults were with the chicks for a few days before both disappeared from the nest. Not sure whether the chick fledged… or came to a tragic end.
YC Wee & Estela V Acierto
Singapore
1st June 2019
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