Will it be spoiled? - a dove update

On Wednesday, July 13th - a scant three days after the second of their chicks had fledged - our doves were back tending the nest again. This past Wednesday, two weeks to the day, was hatching day.

Early this morning the male flew off for a bit and I took the opportunity to climb a ladder to check the nest. For the first time in the four years the doves have been nesting here, there is only one chick. Here's a photo - with sincere apologies for the poor quality - of the "only child".


I wonder if it will be a spoiled brat? Doubtful - it will be kicked out of the nest in under two weeks, you can't do much spoiling in that short period of time.

Nature's gifts

An elephant in a tree trunk....

a busy bee and an ant.....

and abstract art....

Follower foul-up

For some reason my Follower gadget sometimes shows as a blank in the sidebar. So I've added the "Subscribe to" gadget as an additional method of following. Hope this isn't too frustrating for readers! Thanks for your patience.

Elaine

They're back!

The Writer just called to say "Guess who's back." Yes, just 3 short days after the second chick fledged, the doves are back primping their nest in preparation for the next pair of eggs. They will likely spend a couple of days coming and going adding a few new twigs and then will settle in for incubation. Will keep you posted.

Canterbury Folk Festival, Ingersoll, Ontario - part 3

Sunday mornings at the Festival start with gospel music.

Jimmy Lee Howard comes to the festival via a round about route - he is originally from Texas but now lives in Newfoundland. Jimmy Lee has a wonderful knack for getting audience members to sing along with him.

The Canterbury Folk Festival could never happen without the tireless work of volunteers. Ted Comisky is probably the most visible face of the festival and he is also now the Mayor of Ingersoll. Ted is a well known musician in his own right - and he happens to be on the right in this next photo with (l-r Bob Breen, Jim Gondor & Ted)

The final act of the day and this year's festival was Valdy, seen here likely looking for a cup of caffeine as he'd travelled from from British Columbia on an overnight flight.

Performing with Valdy in the final set was Graham Wardrop from Christchurch, New Zealand and, as the world knows, Christchurch was hit by a devastating earthquake on February 22 of this year. Christchurch is home to another Canterbury Folk Festival and Ted Comisky, on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Ingersoll Canterbury Folk Festival gave Graham a donation of $1,000 to bring back to the Festival in Christchurch. Graham was beaming when he accepted the gift on behalf of the "sisterfest" in his home country.

As the afternoon and the festival wound down with Valdy singing crowd favorites, we wondered what next year's Festival will hold in store.
Kudos the the Festival Committee and volunteers for a job well done.

Mourning Dove update - we have lift off!

The second chick has finally left the nest. We were concerned it was going to be like a version of Wayne's World from Saturday Night Live - living in the parent's basement forever!

Now we have to wait and see if the parents will return to the nest and start another broood.

Stay tuned!

Canterbury Folk Festival, Ingersoll, Ontario - part 2

The Saturday evening session of the Festival was packed - we heard an estimate of 5,000 in attendance. Not too shabby for a small town festival - it was a great evening.

We picked a spot right behind the sound booth and set up our chairs - the view was perfect.

We enjoyed a number of acts including Tia McGraff and her partner Tommy Parham

and Trifecta (Pavlo, Rik Emmett and Oscar Lopez)

before we called it a night....

Mourning Dove update

We've had a bit of chaos in the "nursery" this week. Wednesday one of the chicks fledged - sort of - it was about 2 or 3 days early so we feared it wouldn't be able to fly high enough to stay out of harm's way. After that the parents seemed to flit about the neighbourhood but it didn't appear they were stopping by to feed the remaining chick. Were both of them going to be lost to fate?

Today there were answers on both fronts.

The first chick was spotted with one of the adults in the tree on our lawn. The adult flew off just before I took this photo.


Then, around 5:30 p.m. one of the adults came back to the window sill to feed the remaining chick which seems determined to never fledge, if it can help it.

Canterbury Folk Festival, Ingersoll, Ontario - part 1

The eleventh annual Canterbury Folk Festival is underway just west of us in Ingersoll, Ontario. Geoff,the writer/photographer in our house, will be busy through the weekend taking hundreds of photos of the event. I will just be busy with taking many (okay, maybe a hundred or two) photos of the event, just for fun. We'll both be enjoying the dance and music sessions at the various venues. So far I've paused for this shot of stepdancers - this group was amazing!



And for this one of a session in the gazebo called "I Usually Play This When I'm Alone". This group included the members of Trifecta: - Pavlo, Rik Emmett (Triumph)& Oscar Lopez ; E.S. Doyle, Graham Wardrop,Tommy Parham and Tia McGraff - so much talent is such a small space.

Mourning Dove update

One of the chicks fledged today, about 3 or 4 days too early. Hoping it is safe but we last saw it on a neighbour's lawn - I wish it was higher up, out of harm's way. The second chick is still safe in the nest.

Mourning Dove update

Here's a close-up of mama and one of the babies - isn't is adorable?