Things aren't always what they appear

We've been missing our nesting Mourning Doves this year.  They appeared briefly above our front door in the spring but promptly left us and nested above our neighbour's door instead.  They raised two chicks that fledged successfully but that was the end of the nesting so we've been feeling a bit abandoned.

As I was coming up the front walk after work today I looked down and saw tell tale signs (dove poop) that there must be doves hanging about.  

So, I paused and looked straight up at this.  Hmmm, looks like a nest.

Yes, I'll be darned, it is a nest in the tree on our lawn.

On closer inspection, I thought "that's an odd feather pattern at the front...

.....down right strange, in fact"

Okay, that explains it - there's at least one chick in this precarious nest.  I suspect this nest has been successful because we've has so little rain. No big storms to shake it loose.  Doves are not the best engineers and builders - they need all the luck they can get.

So, I was smugly thinking our Doves had come back to us after all.  Until I turned around and noticed that there's a nest on our neighbour's window sill again.

 So the Doves in our tree are either our old doves or brand new ones.  Either way, we're happy they're here.