This Marianas Fruit Dove flew into our livingroom yesterday afternoon, greatly arousing the interest of Jack the Cat. The kids saved him (the bird) and we were all amazed how calm it seems in perching on the kids fingers. We haven't found any injuries, but can't seem to get him to fly away, so have concluded that maybe he's just young. We called Fish and Wildlife this morning, but they said that we can either try to release it, try to care for it until it can be released, or bring it in to them and they'll take care of it. As you can see, we've opted to keep it here until release.
He's got beautiful feathers. We googled him and found out that these doves are quite shy and not often seen in the open. They are unique to Guam and the Northern Marianas, but unfortunately are now extinct in Guam due to the invasion of the brown tree snake.
Jacob calls him "Bounce." You can see that he's quite an acrobat!
6 comments:
3 words: THAT is nifty! Way cool you guys, I wish I could meet Bounce!
That is so cool and strange at the same time. Maybe he belonged to someone or someone saved him when he was young and was hand reared? Maybe he was kicked-out of his group or something. At any rate it is a nice adventure. He is very pretty.
It is strange. He still has some fluff poking out among his wings and Case says that an adult is bigger than this. Right now all he'll do is flutter down to the ground.
You know what's funny? Almost the same EXACT thing happened to me when I was about 8 years old! (Although it wasn't anything as exotic as a Marianas Fruit Dove... I believe it was a parakeet...) We put flyers up all around the neighborhood to see if it was anyone's lost bird, but no one called, so we kept Sweetheart (what we eventually named her) for a few, happy years! Have fun with baby Bounce!
The kids took Bounce out of the cage everyday for him to try out his wings and yesterday morning he flew away. Just as it should be.:)
Do you know how rare those guys are? I've been back on Saipan for almost four months and I have yet to see one. Consider yourselves lucky!
Post a Comment