Bird Problem

[Barry]

Hi there all Twitchers! I have registered with your site to try and understand the behaviour of a particular bird problem we are having. Any advice would be most welcome.
We live in Tauranga. For the past month we have had a Malay Dove ( I have checked the ID of this bird with NZ websites) use our outside spotlights to sit on. I presume it's a male as it doesn't seem to have a nest(?) Not sure if that identifies a male but regardless it is making a terrible mess of our decking area and light surrounds. When it is shooed away it only goes as far as a neighbours roof and is looking to go back on ours immediately. On a friends advice we have stuck and draped shiny tape on the light surrounds which the dove doesn't like. However it is still around and driving my wife insane.
Can you tell me whether the bird thinks that our house is its nest?
If so is there normally a period of time before it wants to go somewhere else?
Why would a bird want to sit so awkwardly and uncomfortably on a tiny area for so long? I have seen it sit in an absolute long lasting downpour.
Any suggestions on how we can get rid of it (in a reasonable way).

Thanks for your help.
Barry

[SomesBirder]

If it was nesting there, I believe that it would probably have a breeding partner nearby, but because only one bird has ever been present on your property, this seems highly unlikely.
You could try to use bird spikes, which might deter it from perching on the spotlights. A last resort could be shooting it, but I strongly discourage this.

[Davidthomas]

Agreed with what somesbirder has suggested with the bird-spikes. Either that or putting up some cardboard to prevent it perching there with some tape. Not allowing it the area to perch should hopefully force it to move on.

[boneywhitefoot]

purchase a raptor

[Mig]

Raptor sounds like a good idea, when i was in the UK recently i noticed that all the public buildings like hospitals and schools etc had large cut out hawks floating around on very tall 10metre high ariel type wire to deter pigeons which are a huge pest over there.

[Barry]

Thanks Dave Thomas. Where do you purchase bird-spikes and what boneywhitefoot is a raptor? Thanks.

[SomesBirder]

Thanks Dave Thomas. Where do you purchase bird-spikes and what boneywhitefoot is a raptor? Thanks.

Raptors are birds of prey (in New Zealand, this would generally mean New Zealand Falcons and Australasian Harriers). I am almost completely sure that the comment was meant as a joke.

[Ian Southey]

I've just looked up Spotted Doves and it seems possible to me that this bird might actually have a nest as the peak breeding season extends into summer. The fact you see only one bird may mean that the other is incubating or guarding a chick and the calling may be to warn off other doves.

The field guide has the incubation period at 16 days with a similar fledging period so if you are lucky your problem may just vanish shortly but in the meantime it would be hard to shift. This means it would just look for another perch if you put up the bird spikes and it may have enough motivation to test a raptor silhouette if you put it up.

I should mention that I don't know much about Spotted Doves but obvious behaviours usually happen for a reason.

Ian

[Barry]

Thanks for that Ian. This seems possible except that it is not calling or making any noise whatsoever. The poor thing is very frustrated at the defences we have put in place and desperately wants to be on our property and will sit uncomfortably on an awning if need be.As you say any perch will do! It appears to be a Malay Dove with a pink/maroon breast with grey wings.

[Ian Southey]

Barry

I forgot to mention. If there is a nest it would be well hidden in a tree or hedge.

I'm sure there will be a specific reason for such an attraction. If not a nest maybe food which you may be able to identify and deal with.

Ian