Family of Doves

[cbertsch]

Yesterday I blogged about the nest that a pair of doves set up in the cactus hanging near our front door. I wrote that by yesterday evening both of the baby birds, the one that hatched last week and the one that I only noticed yesterday morning, seemed to be back in the nest, although the former was nowhere to be seen in the afternoon. And I closed by noting that, "when I looked outside a little while ago, I could swear I saw three birds in the nest, though that might have been a trick of the light."

Well, when I went outside for the first time this morning I saw both baby birds, one clearly a lot bigger, in the nest. But looking at the two of them more closely, in better light, made me think that the older one might have been the one I saw yesterday afternoon, with the younger one concealed from view. Even the older one didn't look flight-ready yet. Then, when I checked on the nest a little later, it had gotten a lot more crowded:

:

When I stepped back to get a different angle, I noticed that the parent and two offspring in the nest were also being watched over by the other parent.

I'm not sure how to tell which one of the grown-ups was the male and which one the female, but they are clearly an effective mutual aid society. I couldn't stay outside too long because the bird on the roof started to get very agitated. I didn't want it to have to resort to the my-wing-is-broken-routine, so I came inside.

Comments

[elizabeg.livejournal.com]

I'm quite impressed with these doves. As you've said, the species isn't the best at planning--or at nest building. My parents get tons of birds in their yard and my mom would always get really frustrated when she doves building "nests" by throwing three sticks on the ground in a circle. She also hated it when baby doves would end up in the nests of other birds, crowding out tinier babies because their own parents abandoned them to a smarter species. I guess that was a survival strategy but it didn't really seem fair. This family gives me hope, though. That pot is clearly strong enough to support the whole group. Please post pics of the quail as well. I LOVE little quail families!

[threestarblue.livejournal.com]

i just don't know how they stand the stickers on the cactus but it seems to be working. :)