And I do mean rutting. They do not seem to behave exactly like your common or garden pigeon. That is the females seem to be about just as oblivious as pigeons, that is one often seems what I can only assume are the males (its much harder to tell than with pigeons, the males do not have any iridescence like the pigeon) bobbing and bowing to the females cooing charmingly and the females wandering off in the usual manner leaving a rather deflated male behind. I have NEVER witnessed any intercourse between Zebra doves. I can only assume it occurs privately given the Hitchcockian quantities despite the vast population of feral cats in Honolulu and the two or three squabs I've seen huddling in the undergrowth which also leads me to assume they are ground nesting birds.
Recently however the males have begun rutting. Two birds begin bobbing and bowing to each other, cooing of course, in a matter indistinguishable from the more common amorous advances except in its mirrored reciprocation in the party of the second part, I assume another male. The two birds advance and retreat, bobbing and cooing the whole time, crabwise towards each other sometimes jumping into the air and scrabbling and eventually one flies away or they both seem to loose interest.
I could of course have the whole thing backwards. Perhaps the former behavior is aggressive and the latter amorous. I could look it up but I much prefer observation of the Zebra dove to fact. They're odd little birds and I am astonished they haven't been all eaten or run over by now.
