She came in peace – and for some free grain.
The first time I saw this dove (I’m sure it’s always the same one) Isabel chased her away. My chickens are pretty territorial. But as time has gone by, the chickens seem to have accepted this dove even in the absence of an olive branch.
Two days ago she spent almost the whole day sitting in the grass, moving only to chase the sun. Frank and I were sure she had come to die but then, as we watched, she flew away. Yesterday she was back eating happily and cured of whatever bird flu had befallen her.
She’s a sweet thing and I like her. I don’t mind that she eats a bit of the chickens’ grain, carries worms that could, and maybe have, infected my chooks, and lounges around my back yard producing nothing worthwhile all day. I wonder if she’s becoming a pet? If she does, I’ll have to accept the fact that she’s a crested pigeon and not a dove at all (dove sounds nicer though, don’t you think?) and name her. Until then she’s a wild marauding creature!
Crested Pigeon
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
I had one of those in my juvenile lockup that someone gave my wife, they said it was a crested dove from South Africa. We used to keep her in Karen’s cockatiel breeder aviary but she liked to hop from nestbox to nestbox and that kinda disrupted the tiels sittin on their eggs.
Did yours ever fly? This one makes a whistling sound with its wings when it flies – really pretty. I’m sure ours is a crested pigeon. They’re natives to and common across Australia. They like woodlands (for protection/roosting), grasses (they eat the seeds) and a ready water source (they are big drinkers). We have quite a few trees in our and our neighbour’s gardens, we’re lousy grass mowers so there’s a lot of grass seed ourt there and we keep the bird bath filled with fresh water. Of course she loves it here!
Looks like a very handsome bird, bit nicer than an ordinary pigeon.
Thank you. I like to think she is a class above an ordinary pigeon 🙂