I'm really excited to bring you this update on the family of mourning doves living around my back patio. After the last two baby doves hatched and moved out of the nest, the nest appears to have been abandoned(this was the nest on the roof above the porch). In fact, I haven't seen the doves around much at all.
This went on for about four weeks until one day I noticed the doves making a new nest in the arborvitae just feet away from their old nest. A new nest for a new set of baby doves. Fun fact, mourning doves almost always lay two eggs. So far, this couple has proven that to be true. Would this time be different?
The doves took a rather long time building the nest. It felt like it was, at least, a week. I often sit out on the patio, and the doves would fly right by my head as they carried sticks to their new home. They certainly gave me a few jump scares.
Part of my daily morning routine became checking on the nest and saying hello to whichever dove was sitting on the eggs. One morning I saw something different. The dove seemed to be sitting on a bunch of fur. Wait? That wasn't fur. Those were the babies. They must have recently hatched. I went and retrieved my camera...
Can you see them? Let me zoom in...
There's two of them, and they are cuties. The other one is hidden behind the leaves to the left.
Hatchlings will stay in the nest about two weeks before leaving. I wondered if a parent had to sit on them the whole time. The answer to that question came one morning about a week later. When I looked in on the nest, the babies were there, staring at me. But, no parent was around. They would, probably, not be gone too long.
They've already gotten so much bigger and have lost most of their fur. The little strands of fur that remain, are holding on in a futile effort.
At this point, it was only a matter of days before these two would finally get to leave the nest. I was looking forward to welcoming them when they did. Turns out, they had a little surprise waiting for me.
Walking out onto my patio one morning, I made a beeline to the arborvitae. So focused, was I, on the nest, that I failed to notice the surrounding area. Looking into the bush, I saw an empty nest. I started to look around and found them almost immediately. There they were, sitting on the ground, just a few feet away. And they were staring at me. Doves have got to be one of the quietest birds there are. You never hear a peep out of the young ones.
That corner of the house is a popular spot for young doves to hang out. At this point, I still haven't seen the young doves eating on their own. They will just hang out together and wait for one of their parents to show up and feed them "pigeon milk". Sounds yummy.
After witnessing this exchange of "pigeon milk" numerous times, I finally managed to get it on film. Here's a gif my footage...
It won't be much longer until these younglings fly off to start their own families. The parents will, likely, continue to make the area around the patio their home. And, why not? It's a nice place. Thank you for reading!
Wherever we are, we are surrounded by nature. It's always trying to communicate with us. Take time to notice. #NoticeNature.
All gifs and images are my own unless otherwise stated.
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