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Thursday, June 15, 2017

The Doves In Our Tree ...


Hello my dear friends,

you all know of my love for the mourning doves that visit our garden and I have told you about them before and about how they have been nesting of and on in our blue spruce tree that is in the front of our house every year for three years now.

Just recently I had shared in a post on how the dove couple had laid an egg just over 7 weeks ago but after weeks of nesting, it turned out that the egg had no baby in it. A few days later I removed the egg from the nest and to surprise the doves started to nest again almost right away. It didn't take long and there was a new egg laying in the nest and I was again excited. For weeks after, I had kept an eye on the tree and the happenings in the nest but I never got too close in fear of scaring the doves. On June 1st as I again took a very careful look at the nest and to my surprise I caught a glimpse of a baby dove! Three years and five eggs later and finally a baby dove has hatched but I didn't celebrate right away ... so many things could still go wrong. One of them is that we have too many cats in the neighborhood that are let outside and left to do what ever they want to do which includes killing wildlife which upsets me a lot. I am a cat owner too and my cats stay inside. It is safer for them and for the wildlife too.

But back to my good news again now ...

Every day I would look at the nest for a very short moment, just to make sure all was well. I didn't cut my front lawn for weeks so I wouldn't disturb the nesting birds and scare them away from their chick. I took notes of when what happened in the tree and waited patiently for the baby to make it's first appearance away from the blue spruce and a few days ago that day had finally arrived!

I was on my way to take a photo on my first rose of the year and had my camera with me which I am so happy about, when I found the little feathered critter, now a fledgling sitting on our driveway.

And this is it! ...


... Our sweet little mourning dove!

I spooked it a little and it went into hiding but I didn't see where. I didn't want to look for it so I wouldn't make things worse but Mom and Dad dove wanted to be close to it, so they started to look for it right away.

They even looked ...



... inside our house even!

They also looked ...


... inside the tree ...


... and searched the surrounding areas too.


After a while they came onto the back deck to get a drink of cool water ...


... and then flew off again to search for their baby again.

For the rest of the day I kept watching out for any signs of the doves and their baby.  Later on in the day at last, there they were! Baby and all on our deck. Needless to say that I spent a lot of time at the windows ...


... watching the little dove and everything that was going on.

I was so fortunate to actually ...


... see the little dove as it was being fed by one of it's parents and also capture a photo of it too.

Just look at this lovely and sweet little bird baby ...


... it took years for it to happen but at last a baby dove is here!

Over the next several hours I also was watched the adult doves teach their offspring how to fly. At first only a few feet, then from tree to tree, from our deck to the fence and back and in the end then from one end of our yard to the other. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to be able to watch all of this. My heart is still filled with so much joy! That was the last time I saw the new little dove and the adult ones too. I am hoping that they are all well and that their baby will grow to be a "big bird" and maybe one day come back to our yard again.

The nest in our blue spruce is once again empty but ...


... maybe next year we will have a little miracle happen in it again.

And last but not least and before I forget ...


... this is my first rose of the year ~  simply lovely.

It is so nice that you took the time and stopped by to visit me here at Todolwen and I would love for you to return some time again.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a a peaceful and creative day.

3 comments:

  1. How charming and sweet, Karen. What a lovely story.

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  2. What a wonderful story and your photographs are beautiful!

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  3. How many ways can one say 'awwwww'? Lucky you to be witness to the miracle of life.

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