The Cleaver family

Back on April 30th I noted in my blog that we had a mourning dove nesting above our front door. Well, time has passed, spring is moving on and we have two newly hatched chicks in residence. I was lucky enough to catch the two shots below during a feeding session. Why is there always an errant twig in the way?! That's nature for you.

We've named them the Cleavers, as in June, Ward, Wally and the Beave. Dad Ward faithfully relieves Mom June in the morning and she returns to the nest late afternoon for the remainder of the 24hour period.

This video was shot yesterday during meal time. I've learned at lot from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology about mourning doves, their mating and nesting habits and habitats. There's also an interesting article on the New Hampshire Public Radio site about how they feed their young with "milk".