Yes, Mildred the Mourning Dove has won her spot back for another year. She started sitting either Friday or Saturday and has not left the nest since then. She is right outside the kitchen window in a hanging flower basket. I had planned to take it down but then the knee issue cropped up and I never got around to it. Since she appears to be brooding, I don't want to disturb her now.
I have to admit it is quite fun to look out at her when I am at the sink washing dishes or doing food prep. (The little that Tramp 1 is allowing me to right now...) And at night as I am turning off the lights, I give her a little wave, telling her good night and I swear she winks back at me!
Having seen pictures that show how large her nestlings could get, we are going to have to figure out some way to protect them from falling out of the nest. Since she seems to always be there, we may have to rig up a net of some sort right underneath the basket. I sure don't want her to go to all the work of laying and sitting for days only to see a repeat of last year when we found the babies dead on the ground.
Read more about Mourning Doves here -
Hear the sound of the Mourning Dove here -
5 comments:
Maybe this will be a better year. Hope so. - Margy
Leave it to critters to complicate things! If you rig up the net thingy to catch the fledglings, please post a pic. I'm curious to see what you come up with.
maybe put a board behind her to prevent the eggs or her chicks from falling through...good luck with this one. Continue the photos...so interesting, nature in action.
You are blessed beyond words.
Netting like you can buy to cover bushes from birds might be a good bet. Makes me happy Mildred has someone looking out for her, and her future progeny. The world needs more songbirds!
For us it is the starlings (a-holes of the bird family). They rip off our dryer vent cover (designed to keep birds out) every spring and make a nest inside. It is fun to watch the cat go crazy when he hears them, though.
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