28 February 2020

mourning doves

I saw a chickadee in our yard the other day, the flock of robins came through and stripped the big holly of berries, and there have been starlings and sparrows here and there. And the doves! Every spring I hear mourning doves coo, this year it seems they might set up housekeeping. Two have been hanging out in one large tree, and I saw them mating several days ago. Then they were checking out the squirrel drey (which I guess was abandoned- maybe that individual squirrel is gone). Look close, you can see one dove perched on a branch in front of the trunk to left of the nest (and slightly above it):
Here I caught it out on the lawn-
near my northern bayberry:
Meanwhile the other bird was tucked into the nest, after poking around quite a bit. When it's settled, can barely see movement of the head just above the rim. The dove's head is in this photo-
just visible as a curve and circular dark eye just above the rim:
Unfortunately, I think I frightened them? When I walked out into the garden they flew away with whistling wings. The next afternoon they were back, one sugging down in the nest again while the other sat in a different tree. But today I haven't seen them at all. I do hope they keep coming and settle in- I didn't think they would startle away so easily.

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