Dove of Peace?

[Daisy]

OH and I were sitting in the garden with a glass of wine this evening. As we chatted we watched the antics of the birds coming to a table with seed and a shallow bowl of water on it.

The pigeons were out in full force, bossing all the other birds around. Then a collared dove flew in. It was about one third the size of the pigeons, and stood on a plant pot for a while just watching. They he made his move. Perching on the edge of the table he took a couple of steps towards a pigeon who advanced with malice. CD moved back just one step. This was repeated two or three times and neither was going to give way.

Then the dove fluttered above the pigeon, doing a tight turn and landing on his back. The pigeon took off as fast as his noisy flappy wings would allow.

The next pigeon suffered the same indignity, until the dove had the table to himself. He pecked away at the seed, had a little drink and then flew up into the apple tree, very pleased with himself.

We were both impressed with the smaller bird's tenacity and tactics.

[Oma]

Oh I bet that was a sight to see we get a lot of Turtle doves not so many pigeons , but the ones we do get are enormous but even they are afraid of the bully boy Magpies

[Gemini]

Oh well done dove


We get mostly starlings in the garden. Lots of pigeons, a few robins, blue tits, house martins, blackbirds and the occasional magpie.
When OH fills one of our bird feeders with mealworms it is like a scene for the Hitchcock film The Birds!
The starlings are crazy about them. She fills it full, they appear from everywhere, very noisy, and descend and eat the whole lot in a few minutes.
The sight and sound would drive an bird-phobic crazy!! I must film it on my phone one day.