A large flock of Oriental turtle doves (aka Eastern turtle dove or rufous turtle dove; Streptopelia orientalis, family Columbidae) gathering at a vast crop field of common buckwheat (aka Japanese buckwheat; Fagopyrum esculentum, family Polygonaceae) to feed on sprouts. I’m not sure but maybe they were in fact pecking at ungerminated seeds rather than the growing sprouts, because the Oriental turtle dove is a seedeating bird or seminivorous. Alternatively, they were probably catching bugs in the crop field. As soon as the doves spotted humanbeings, they fled into the surrounding windbreaker forest on alert. After a while, when the coast was clear, they returned to the crop field one after another to resume the feast. Captured in the cloudy midafternoon (around 15:10 PM) of midAugust 2023 in Japan.

For a full story (text in Japanese);
https://sigmanaturevlog.blogspot.co...