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Subject: [Hong Kong] Bird ID Please [Print This Page]
Author: Mars    Time: 28/12/2017 18:14     Subject: Bird ID Please

I think it is a juvenile wandering in the car park ignoring any person passing by.
Please advise ID.


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Author: ajohn    Time: 28/12/2017 20:23

It's a Diamond Dove. They are native to Australia but commonly kept in captivity, so this must be an escaped individual, which may be why it is tame and ignores people nearby.
Author: Mars    Time: 28/12/2017 20:52

Thank you John,

This is found in the side road 500m from Bride's Pool. Seems no buildings nearby unless it is released deliberately.
It is smaller than a normal size adult Dove. Seems to be a juvenile that still cannot fly or it likes walking. It just walks around picking seeds.
The eye ring of this bird is yellow. Will it turn into red orange when it becomes adult?

[ Last edited by Mars at 28/12/2017 21:14 ]
Author: ddavid    Time: 28/12/2017 21:13

I guess released/escaped birds can wander anywhere.

There is,seemingly, a continuing problem with so-called mercy releases of captive wildlife by Buddhists. Bride's Pool has been known for such releases in the past and there was an item today on the news about hundreds of locusts being found on the shores of Plover Cove reservoir - again, apparently, a result of a mercy release by those seeking good karma.

Such practices are not confined to Asia as a fairly recent article in The Guardian indicates. See https://www.theguardian.com/worl ... -cruel-wild-animals

To quote two paragraphs from the article:

"According to Humane Society International (HSI), hundreds of millions of birds, fish, monkeys, turtles and other animals are involved in acts of fangsheng every year. But these days, it says, “mercy release has become an industry built on the capture and supply of wild animals, for whom there are devastating consequences of injury, illness or death”. In Taiwan alone, 200 million wild animals are used every year in release rituals, according to HSI in 2012. Fangsheng is also practiced in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Nepal, the United States and the UK.

The organisation says many animals are fatally injured in the ritual, and those that survive release often die soon afterwards from exhaustion, injury or disease, or else become prey to other species. Some are re-captured after the ritual and re-sold. Release can also cause environmental harm, it adds. Animals “may be released outside their natural habitats and in groups large enough to establish breeding populations, often wreaking havoc on local ecosystems. Some are invasive species that may threaten the survival of the native species.”

A succinct summing up of the contradictions involved in these mercy releases.

David
Author: Mars    Time: 28/12/2017 21:21

What a pity!
People capturing birds for eating, kept in net for birding and mercy release now becoming a modern industry.
Author: ajohn    Time: 29/12/2017 11:15

Quote:
Original posted by Mars at 28/12/2017 20:52
Thank you John,

This is found in the side road 500m from Bride's Pool. Seems no buildings nearby unless it is released deliberately.
It is smaller than a normal size adult Dove. Seems to be a juvenil ...
I think that it is a young bird, as it seems to show a mixture of adult and immature feathers in the upperparts. But note that Diamond Dove is a small species and this is fully grown. The fact that it is not flying may be because it is unwell or because it is so tame that it has no need to fly to escape - it is old enough to fly.

Bride's Pool does seem to be a regular location for 'mercy release'. I have seen obviously released birds there in the past (including, coincidentally, Diamond Doves). The practice of 'mercy release' is a major environmental problem, as highlighted in the post above. It would be informative to know the scale of the damage caused and the number of birds and other animals that die in the process of capture and shipping to the point of release.
KFBG has often done work and publicity on this subject in the past:
http://www.kfbg.org/upload/Docum ... Report_20111027.pdf
http://www.kfbg.org/upload/Docum ... sfortune_28_APR.pdf
http://www.kfbg.org/upload/Blog/ ... ercyRelease_Eng.jpg

AFCD have recently been putting up posters at various locations around Country Parks to discourage the practice.
Author: Mars    Time: 29/12/2017 16:33

Thank you for your information.
I saw a pair of Diamond Dove today. Both can fly. They just choose to wander around that area.
I saw the poster to discourage people from mercy release.  Thank for the work done.



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