16 : Pink Pigeon

Pink Pigeon - Neseonas mayeri

I had to reach for my "Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands" to find the latin name for this bird. It will be a good day when that gets repacked. We are of course on Mauritius this evening and the tale of the Pink Pigeon is a tale that we will come back to again and again. Unique birds, island endemics, limited range and the arrival of man equals problem for bird.

Firstly the photo - I took the family on a hike through the last big tract of indigenous forest left on Mauritius in the grim knowledge that it was my best chance to bag as many of the island's endemics as I could. Now I am a little unfit and the boys were I think 9 and 6. My wife is probably the most adapted to walking long distances. When the guide told us after about 20 minutes that the projected route was 14 km I started to convert that back into old money. Divide by 8 and times by 5 I think. Well 8 into 14 was not working well but I got to 1 and 3/4 and then applied my five. Holy moly guacamole - 8 and 3/4 miles. What then took place was an all day conspiracy to hide the fact from our children that we had "bitten off more than we could chew". "How far is it" is not something we needed to hear after about half and hour. I worked out in my head that with the difficult terrain at times this was going to be about 4 hours plus with a stop for lunch and the odd photo.

I probably have walked more than 8 miles several times in my life - I have enjoyed it as well. We had the scenary and the place was fascinating. The guide was good at picking out odd plants and things - he was a botanist at heart. Plants that popped when squished e.g. the botanical equivalent of bubble wrap - thank heavens for any diversion.

It is a different thing with an 9 and a 6 year old. You don't want them to get miserable half way round. They did very well. I could not walk down some steps the next morning. The walk was slippy at times, very steep and so on - we saw some birds though, and lizards and Monkeys and got a sense for what the island was like before man arrived and turned it over to a cash crop - sugar.

Mauritius was of course the home of the Dodo. Perhaps the only extinct bird that the "White Van Man" can name. As with many islands that lacked predators birds had a hard time of it when man (and rats) arrive. On some islands hedgehogs of all things have ran amuck. There is an albatross being ravaged by killer mice on one ocean island. Mostly though the island story seems to be about felling indigenous forests to clear the way for more people and new crops. Many of these islands also had people "imported" in order to work the fields and they in turn needed to be fed. More forest goes down. So many threatened birds are on small islands. When I grow up I am buying one and replanting the whole thing. People or birds though - you can have both.

The Pink Pigeon was a simple victim of habitat loss. It was recognised that the numbers had dropped dramatically by about the 60's and 70's and then steps were taken. I do not know the exact number but the population would have happily made up a feeding party in a town park. Luckily it was one of the early beneficiaries of captive breeding programmes and island habitat conservation. It was saved at the brink - a small offshore satelite island was used as a sanctuary (another mainstay of saving island endemics).

So after about 8 miles we descended into more humid and lush forest.

At this stage the guide said we should stop for lunch. I have to say I wondered why half way round wasn't a good option. By my reckoning the walk was 90 % over ! Also we had stopped next to a hornets nest which had "Uncle Fret" as I am known in some circles a bit concerned.

I guess the theme of this post is that much of the time you have to work for your birds. Equally though with some research you could walk 300 yards from a different car park !

Yes - This pigeon was perched about 300 yards from the end of our walk. I would love to say that I spent more than 2 minutes with it. My feet were sore, my back ached, my children were still good but possibly not as captivated by the pigeon as me. Was I captivated ? To this day I have to say it was never quite as Pink as I wanted it to be after 8 miles. More off white pink than a rose blush. How rude of me is that. I really did want to see a Pink Pigeon and I got one - it just wasn't that Pink. I did see an Echo Parakete, a Mauritius Kestrel and so on (for another post). I will need to get some exercise though as another limitation on the success of this "voyage of birds" could be my fitness. I am proud of that Pink Pigeon - but probably more proud that my 9 and 6 year old walked close on 9 miles. All the way down from the top.

Thank you Gerald Durrell and the people of Mauritius. The world is a better place with the odd Pink Pigeon in it. 300 yards would have been cheating.

Pink Pigeon - Neseonas mayeri
Mauritius, South Central Highlands, July 2010