Diamond Dove Geopelia cuneata
I hit this bird while driving back to Katherine in the NT from Warmun in WA yesterday.
I saw a blur of dark feathers moving from my right, then heard and felt the slightest of bumps and next saw a small cloud of downy feathers in the car’s wake.
I stopped, turned and bore witness to the death of this small wonder.
A day or two earlier I saw this one – not hit by me but by someone else.
3 Comments
It is a bit sad killing something like this and being unable to avoid it.
A few weeks ago driving in Darwin there was a dead piping shrike on the road and to my amazement just as I was about to pass it, another piping shrike on the side of the road ran out in front of me, seeming to put its wing up like it was damaged. There was nothing I could do, I hit and killed it.
I can only imagine it was trying to decoy my car away from its dead mate on the road. Sad. But what sacrifice!
Lucky it wasn’t your first Night Parrot, Bob. My worst was an Boobook Owl, not wanting to move away from his own road kill, caught in my headlights… can still see it, still feel it.