BACKYARD FRIENDS Quiz

Steve Braunias on taking care of the spotted dove

How will the spotted doves get on after I leave? Most days I look out the kitchen window on to the back yard and see these shy, nervous birds, doing their best not to make a scene, slowly making their way around the edges of the garden, finding just enough food to stay alive. They are my favourite birds in the world. My world is the back yard. All over New Zealand, householders are taking care of the wild birds in their gardens, scattering seeds, filling up bowls of water, spooning out hot meals (pasta, beans, rice); I am among this quiet, dozy number, in silent communion with birds. But I worry about the spotted doves.

Strange to think that the spotted dove population in New Zealand comes from one incident — the release of captive birds in Mt Eden, in the 1920s. Someone must have owned a massive number of the doves for enough of them to go about setting up a group that has survived for 100 years. Maybe the householder was packing up to leave and faced the same arithmetic as everyone who changes addresses: you don’t add to your possessions, you subtract.

The birds are now widespread in Auckland, and from Whangarei to Rotorua, and on the East Coast between Katikati and Whakatane. I can vouch they are in Te Atatu. And now I worry about the spotted doves.

The spotted dove is also known as the Malay dove, Chinese dove, spotted turtle-dove, and — this is good — lace-necked dove. They have a delicate, subtle, heartbreaking beauty; it’s in their almost imperceptible colouring of their chest, a grey that glows with hues of pink. It looks like a deep sunset on a cloudy evening. Also, they have a black and white checked halfcollar, their lace-neck. It’s a chic little accessory. There’s something royal about it, like they’re wearing an ermine stole. And there they are, among the commoners in our backyards, more stately than rock pigeons, sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, mynahs, easily bullied, preferring to keep their distance. They get by, just, somehow; I worry about the spotted doves.

There is debate about feeding wild birds, including spotted doves — what to feed them, when to feed them, and whether to feed them anything. Dictates tell us that bread is bad, it’s like junk food. Corn kernels and oats are better, but all food causes dependency issues. God almighty. We can argue ourselves and other species out of existence. I go with Rosemary Tully, author of the bible on feeding wild birds, Tea for the Tui. She writes, “There are numerous reasons why we should feed our wild birds. Perhaps the most obvious of all is that, without our help, many of them may die, particularly during severe winters …You needn’t confine your garden bird feeding to winter and early spring … Providing an easy source of food in the garden during summer keeps adults in good condition.” So I worry about the spotted doves.

The rock pigeons, sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, and mynahs will get over it after I 1

Collectively, Mike D, MCA and Ad-rock were known by what name?

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What conflict involved the Righteous and Harmonious Fists?

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The Sabin vaccine provided protection against what?

leave, they’ll manage, but the spotted doves Geographically speaking, the

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seem to go through their whole lives looking lost Taieri Plain holds what New and perplexed; my departure is a disruption in Zealand record? the food chain, and their temperament might regard it as a crisis. I wish I could give them a Hell’s Kitchen is a

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forwarding address. “It’s good there,” I’d say. neighbourhood in what city? “You’ll like it. Big backyard. Trees. Yeah, the cats are coming, but they’ve never bothered you in What book catalogues the sad

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the past. It’s not far from here. Please come. decline of the truffula tree? Please.” Rehearsing such a speech is known as talking to yourself. That way lies madness. I Most of the time, what is

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worry about everything; definitely I worry about between MLWS and MHWS? the spotted doves.

There are things I’ll miss more than the “I Want to Believe,” said a

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spotted doves. The mangroves, the creek, poster that was often shown in the tides. Our surroundings become part which TV series? of ourselves. Birds, though, are apart. They occupy the zone of sky and air. Small, soft, What widely used unit of

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easily damaged, they are little bits and pieces measurement is named after a of flesh and nerves, exactly as light as feathers, pioneer of the telephone? scattering like leaves. They go their own way.

They have a good view of the way things are.

But they touch something deep within us, something at once sentimental and profound, some inchoate mass of feeling, and I doubt I’ll ever stop worrying about the spotted doves. 10

What links: 95; 98; 2000; and Me?

ANSWERS ON P27 — compiled by Mark Fryer