A Tinian Walk

Walk began quite unremarkably today. No Plovers, no turtles, no changes with the stonefaces, nothing of interest until I got down to Fiesta Grounds. The Marians Fruit Dove I've been watching there now has a chick.

When I got there today the babe was there alone. Though I hung around quite a while I never saw the Mom. This seems to be a very brave little chick as it changes its location – maybe only a few inches at a time but that’s more than the previous one did when alone.

In the fenced area beyond the Fiesta grounds a work crew with a bucket truck was trimming a lot of branches off the trees in there. I got one really neat picture. The bucket up among the tree branches blends into the sky background so well it looks like the man is hanging there in midair.

I hung around for some time to see if they were going to trim along the road and to speak up on behalf of the Fruit doves if so. But it became apparent that they’d be working where they were for quite some time more so I slowly headed back. Up by the baby bird’s tree I suddenly saw a White-throated ground dove fly into a nearby tree. They walk, hop and flutter from spot to spot so fast it is hard to photograph them but I always try. This time a female came along and they were having quite a romance – billing and cooing and darting toward and away from each other. I got a decent shot of the female. She is all a chocolaty brown while the male has a white head and chest. I got a fairly decent shot of the male with his wings aflutter, about to leave that branch for another.

After a short while a number of Donne Salis came along screeching, squawking, attacking and chased away the much larger pair. I was not so happy about that. When I arrived back at my building the 5 month was holding court for an uncle and the Grands. And of course that meant a few more Kodak moments!

Coming up the stairs I spotted an Egigi with just enough light on it for some almost good pictures.