That is a female mourning dove, sitting on her just-made-that-morning nest. The girls were very excited about this new addition to our family. I looked up mourning doves on Cornell's Ornithology site:
"A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America."
Who hunts doves, by the way? And why? I can't imagine that you really get good eating off them.
We were all excited that a nest had been built on our very own porch. New baby birds! Baby bird showers, baby bird birth announcements--the possibilities are endless. We tried to be extra quiet each time we went out the back door in order not to scare our new friend off. However, by the afternoon, she was absent. We didn't see her in the evening either, and when we looked first thing this morning, the nest was empty. So soon after arriving, it appears our back porch roof was not satisfactory. All the baby bird plans crashed down around us.
"You're not crying about it, are you, Mom?" Lucy asked this morning. "And...it's nice that she left her nest so that we have something to remember her by."
I took her to school and didn't think much more about it. When we got home, Elaine settled herself on the kitchen stool to eat some yogurt. I went into the living room until I heard her shrieking, "Mom! Mommy! Come and see! Those chickens are back!"
Sure enough, both Mrs. and Mr. Mourning Dove were in residence. It appears they plan to stay after all.
Though Darren is a hunter, I can assure you they will be safe under this roof. We can go ahead with our baby bird plans. We have no intention of eating mourning dove here.
I just won't tell him there's a possibility that they're actually chickens.
3 comments:
Hooray for nesting chickens! We had a pair of nesting mourning doves at our IL home, too! Emma named them Sophie & Sebastian...I don't remember what she named the babies. Every time we would see a mourning dove, she would say that Sophie was following us/visiting...even if we were across the country. ;)
Last week I took a photo of doves in our yard.
And the robbins are at it again...building their nest on our patio light. This year they did it so fast that Gary only had taken the clippings down once instead of 4 times. Those robbins are truly smart birds against us human beings.
Beautiful birds! I'm so in love with baby animals right now. Please keep me updated. Spring is certainly springing!
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