Emerald Dove Husbandry Manual - Nswfmpa.org

Jennifer Brown ● Emerald Dove Chalcophaps indica ● Husbandry manual
rehabilitation aviary needs to have plenty of ground space. The Emerald Dove is also a
migratory species, but it is unknown how far they fly during their migrations so due to this
a rehabilitation aviary needs to be long and high enough to develop and exercise the
flight and endurance muscles that the bird will need to survive in the wild an example
of this in my opinion would be an aviary at least 10m long and 6m high. This aviary also
needs to be placed away from people and human habitation to start to dehumanise
the birds, so that they are not released as imprinted animals.
Once the birds are in their rehabilitation aviary a release site needs to be chosen (this is
only re quired for hand rai sed birds a s wi ld caught birds have t heir own t erritory t o be
release into). The release site chosen should have a habitat that is suitable for the bird in
a l ocation t hat t hey wo uld find d esirable, see se ction 3 f or f urther d etails ab out t he
Emerald D oves’ w ild habitat an d d istribution. This si te sh ould al so b e asses sed f or an y
pests that may be around with particular focus of pests that live on the ground such as
feral cat or foxes. The chosen release site should also have the natural diet of the bird
which can be found in section 6. Any release site chosen should be thoroughly
inspected t o en sure i t h as al l t he d esired qualities. Preferably t he r elease site w ill b e
inspected a n umber of time throughout t he year t o g ain an u nderstanding o f t he
changes that the seasons bring to the release site. For example there is no point
releasing an animal in spring if it will starve to death in winter because there is no food
source p resent. If a n unsuitable release si te c annot b e c hosen t here i s a c hance to
modify a release site to suit the Emerald Dove but this can be costly and time
consuming. Most keepers and conservationist do not have the resources to upkeep
release sites for any length of time.
Once it is deemed that it is possible release site for the birds being rehabilitated, actual
food sources from the release site should be slowly introduced to the rehabilitated birds
diet. The portion of this release site food should be slowly increased until it makes up the
majority of the birds diet.
The animals then need to be deemed fit and healthy enough to be released back into
the w ild. This s hould include a he alth c heck t o e nsure t he a nimal ha s no he alth
problems and a flight check to ensure the bird can fly normally and has the strength for
endurance flying. The bird should also be eating normally. Some form of identification
microchip or leg ring should be attached to the bird for later surveying.
For t he b est method f or capturing, t ransportation an d rel ease i nto the wi ld for t hese
birds see section 7.
Once the birds have been successfully released into the wild, regular surveys should be
undertaken of the area to see if any of the released birds can be found to assess the
success rate of the rehabilitation program.
The r ehabilitation p rogram can b e c onsidered s uccessful i n m y o pinion wh en t he
released birds have mated and successfully raised their own young.
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