there was something seriously wrong with that dove,
eating bacon like it was ... I am not sure
But before we move on to the psycho dove trying to eat a piece of bacon, I want to appreciate the beauty of the Cape Starling (Lamprotornis nitens). Every time I visit the Kruger National Park, these beautiful yet naughty birds crowd the spaces where humans get together. They know that there will be ample food for them, even bacon! They eat insects and other creatures, so bacon, while not a staple, will still be kind of related to their diet. But for a dove... Eating bacon is seriously strange and a unique encounter to say the least.
(If you do not like to see animals that are potentially hurt, please do not scroll to the end of this post. It might be a little bit upsetting.)
Their striking yellow eyes, looking deep into my soul always make me wonder what goes on in their little bird minds.
What do they see?
Or is this merely again my human mind taking the striking yellow as a feature of depth, one in which I extrapolate and impose my views and understanding onto these animals?
But when you look at the photograph to the right and the one below, you will see this striking look, and you might wonder as well, what are they looking at? Why that stare? It feels like it judging me!
Jokes aside, they are seriously beautiful animals, birds, and I cannot get over the staring eyes, the yellow that almost shines neon against the purple feathers.
The feathers themselves are just as beautiful, especially when the sun shines on them in the way it does (see the photograph below). They look like villains, yet, they are at the same time so beautiful to look at.
Here is a short video (or three short videos) that I took of one of them singing, scratching/cleaning itself, and eating some food from a plate!
At once, I feel a strange moral nagging of how wrong it is, but I also grab the opportunity squarely and without hesitation that these birds are no longer wild. I have said this many times, especially when I write about these birds we find close to camping grounds. But they are no longer wild.
This opportunity, to get really close to them, as a photographer is a dream. I know I love it, because without a really long zoom lens, I cannot ever get close to them.
Yet at the same time, I want them to be wild, I want them not to rely on us humans to feed them. As I know when we stop, when something like a virus shuts down the economy again, these birds and animals are always the first to get hurt; hopefully, they have not unlearned their wildness completely...
For so many wild birds are incredible beautiful, and it would be really a sad day if these birds and other animals starve due to their dependence on us...
And now to the strange encounter with what I call the psycho dove. It is really sad because I think the dove is no longer well, and it looks really bad. It looks like it has been through a war, a fight, or some fire of kind? I am not sure, and if you are sensitive, maybe look away now.
Another Warning, if you are sensitive, maybe look away...
The encounter was so strange. The dove was incredibly violent to the other birds, mostly starlings. Starlings eat insects and similar kinds of "fleshy" animals/insects. But as far as I know, doves don't really ever eat insects (except on rare cases, I am not sure). But this dove was seriously defending and eating this piece of bacon the ground.
In the moment, it was comical, but not really. We all felt a strange sense of concern, sadness, interest, humour, and everything in between as well. For it was something we had never encountered. In the moment, we could not really see all that well, but going through the photographs, we saw just how badly its chest was burnt. I really wonder what this little dove went through to get like this...
In any case, I hope the little dove friend is okay, maybe it was just a psychotic moment that he went through...
For now, happy photographing, and stay well.
All of the photographs (and the video) are my own, taken with either my Nikon D300 or Nikon D3200 and my array of lenses (300mm zoom, 50mm Nikkor or 18-70mm). The musings and writings are my own.