It’s early morning and the trees, the garden, the fencing and lawn are cradled in a moist and downy fog, and a dove coos softly. I have a nest of Mourning Doves only ten feet from my window, and it seems the eggs have hatched by now, though I’m not sure. She, and he - as the parents trade places - still sits atop the nest, but seems to do a little feeding now and then, and spends more time softly tending the contents of the nest with her beak. Ooooohhh, yes!!! I see a tiny, tiny head atop a long, slender neck, and she’s feeding the little charge beak to beak with something she’s saved inside her throat, I suppose, and is nuzzling and maintaining constant attention on her little one.
Oh, those darned House Sparrows! Here another comes to irritate her! Do you know what they do??? The sparrow, much smaller and faster than the dove, flies up behind the nest where the dove is sitting placidly, darts in all-a-sudden and plucks out a beak-full of white fluff from UNDER HER TAIL FEATHERS!!! I couldn’t believe my EYES when I first saw it! I said “No, that did NOT just happen....Let me look more closely.” So, I did, and yes - that IS what happened, and several times again. And sometimes two sparrows gang up on her, and the poor dove, having to move gingerly about the nest because of the eggs, has a hard time twirling around quickly enough to avoid the indignancy of having tuffs of fluff yanked from her bottom end! Her soft downy parts, I imagine, are highly prized for the lining of the sparrow’s nests.
A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of watching HOW the doves make their nests. What happens is they assemble a patch of twigs and grasses on a sturdy branch, and then the female sits on the little patch while the male retrieves another piece for the nest. Upon returning, he STANDS UPON THE BACK of the female and inserts the new twig into the patch below, repeating the process to BUILD THE NEST UP AROUND HER, fitting her perfectly. Isn’t that amazing??!!! Each time he flies away, she continues to sit on the growing nest and weaves into place the twig or straw that he’s inserted. After a couple days their nest is done. During the last twelve hours or so of nest building she begins to coo very softly, a much softer and shorter cooing than you usually hear, as if to say “the eggs are coming...the eggs are coming...we must finish soon, for the eggs are coming...”. Indeed, as SOON as the nest is done, the eggs are laid. Not a moment of time is wasted! Then it takes about two weeks for the eggs to hatch, judging by my observations.
Oh, those darned House Sparrows! Here another comes to irritate her! Do you know what they do??? The sparrow, much smaller and faster than the dove, flies up behind the nest where the dove is sitting placidly, darts in all-a-sudden and plucks out a beak-full of white fluff from UNDER HER TAIL FEATHERS!!! I couldn’t believe my EYES when I first saw it! I said “No, that did NOT just happen....Let me look more closely.” So, I did, and yes - that IS what happened, and several times again. And sometimes two sparrows gang up on her, and the poor dove, having to move gingerly about the nest because of the eggs, has a hard time twirling around quickly enough to avoid the indignancy of having tuffs of fluff yanked from her bottom end! Her soft downy parts, I imagine, are highly prized for the lining of the sparrow’s nests.
A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of watching HOW the doves make their nests. What happens is they assemble a patch of twigs and grasses on a sturdy branch, and then the female sits on the little patch while the male retrieves another piece for the nest. Upon returning, he STANDS UPON THE BACK of the female and inserts the new twig into the patch below, repeating the process to BUILD THE NEST UP AROUND HER, fitting her perfectly. Isn’t that amazing??!!! Each time he flies away, she continues to sit on the growing nest and weaves into place the twig or straw that he’s inserted. After a couple days their nest is done. During the last twelve hours or so of nest building she begins to coo very softly, a much softer and shorter cooing than you usually hear, as if to say “the eggs are coming...the eggs are coming...we must finish soon, for the eggs are coming...”. Indeed, as SOON as the nest is done, the eggs are laid. Not a moment of time is wasted! Then it takes about two weeks for the eggs to hatch, judging by my observations.
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