This young Mourning Dove started to nest in my potted
plant on
Wednesday, July 1st, 1998.
She laid her eggs on Thursday, July 2nd, while I was at
work.
It was probably a good thing I was at work when
this happened!
For all of those who are interested, I live in the West Los Angeles Area of sunny California, not too far from Venice Beach, along with my new tenants.
I have been living my life as usual, but trying to be a good roomy as well. I still open my screen door which is right next to the bird, and hang out on my balcony, listening to music. And I talk a little to the bird so she will become use to my voice.
The picture above was taken the day before her eggs hatched.
When I came home from work on Wednesday, July 15th, one of the eggs was empty, but mom was protecting her babies very well.
The next day I was able to get my first glimpse of the little baby mourning doves.
More Pictures are here!
These were the last few pictures I took of the birdies before they flew off less than a week later.
This occasion of mom not being around had not occurred in front of my eyes before, this being the first time of maybe 3 times that this would happen.
The last time I saw mom was on Monday morning, July 27th, exactly 27 days after she first took residency.
When I got home that night from work, mom was gone, but the babies were cuddled together on my balcony. Not sure what to do, I consulted my neighbor, but since she was as dumbfounded as I was, I decided I would try to put the little ones back in their nest.
As I went to reach for them, one of the two flew off. I finally caught the other one, being as gentle as could, and returned her to her home. Sort of relieved, I went in to relax. When I came out later to water my plants, the one little one was still there. I ran out of water, so I returned to the source of water, my kitchen. When I came out just seconds later, the last of my tenants had taken flight.
I checked to be sure that she was not below my balcony, maybe have fallen over. Once I was reassured that she had actually flown away, I looked onto the early evening sky and smiled.
Please feel free to send me an Email. Hope you have a great day!
