Thursday, June 30, 2011

Mourning Dove update

On June 12th I posted about the merry-go-round we've had with our resident Mourning Doves this year.  Well, they have finally had success and chicks have hatched; it probably happened on Sunday or Monday.  I've seen the motions of them being fed and Geoff has actually seen one chick.  In a scant 12 days or so from now they will be ready to fledge.

This morning I despaired that one of the parents may have come to harm as I found 5 adult dove feathers on the veranda and just last evening a Blue Jay had been trying to pester the adult on the nest.  So tonight I kept careful watch on the window sill at the time the mother and father (we refer to them as June and Ward, as in "Cleaver") usually do their evening switch of duties.  As is the habit with Mourning Doves, the male tends the nest during the day and the female through the evening and overnight.  Right on cue around 5:50 p.m. the female showed up in the tree on our front lawn.  So, with a sigh of relief, I knew both of the parents were okay.


They aren't particularily smart birds but isn't June lovely?

And Ward waited patiently on the nest for her to arrive.

The mama flew to our neighbour's doorway.....

......and then she flew in and landed (left) by the nest as papa prepared for take-off on the right.


Hopefully I have chick photos sometime next week.

4 comments:

  1. i love our doves, we call them dumb doves, they have no fear of us or the dogs and sometimes almost get caught by the dogs. they are such sweet and pretty birds and their cooing is my favorite bird call of all. i like the shot of this one looking in the window. these are really neat photos and i like their names

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  2. They are also notoriously bad engineers when it comes to nest building. The fact that they choose to build on our transome window sill, is a very smart move for infamously "not smart" birds. This is the fourth year that they've blessed us and entertained our cat, Gray, with their presence.

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  3. Beautiful shots - also the next one :) LG Tina

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  4. I didn't know the males took care of the nest durint the day, then switched off with the female at night. That's fascinating!

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