Wednesday 8 April 2009

Coo, aren't they cute!



Following on from yesterday's blog, we had not one, but two fledgling Collared Doves sitting in the Gorleston Library car park. Initially, one was spotted in the passageway and was soon moved to a safer area under some nearby steps where it was soon joined by another!
Originally a bird from Central Asia, the Collared Dove undertook a rapid range expansion west across Europe in the first half of the twentieth century and first bred in the UK at Cromer in North Norfolk in the mid 1950's, they soon colonised the rest of the country and they are now a common sight in urban/ surburban gardens and even Library car parks!
I was little concerned that they might be taken and predated by nearby Herring & Lesser Black- backed Gulls who stood on a nearby roof.
With a second "bite of the cherry", I was finally got my shots. These immature birds, obviously just out of the nest, were being fed regularly by their parents who were flying in and out regularly. Pictured is the youngest bird with its egg tooth still visible. At one stage in the afternoon they had gone and then they were back and finally at the end of the day there was only one!

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