Two Flew Out Of The Cuckoo’s Nest

When we came back from church this morning, the two baby mourning doves were out of the nest and sitting on the porch rail. It was such a neat site that my husband and I rushed inside and got our cameras.

I wonder how much of a bond, if any at all, that these baby birds form with their parents. It’s a whole lot different for humans to experience the “empty nest.”  I’m not there yet, but should the Lord delay his coming and our lives down here continue, I know that one day this will be my lot too. What a bittersweet thing that will be. For the kids, I’m sure it will be exciting, maybe a little scary, but mostly exciting as they go out and experience a lot of “firsts”. For me as a parent, I know it will be somewhat difficult after having raised them and spending so much time together.  But this is the nature of a parent. In a sense, we work our way out of a job. I am not done yet though, so while my two precious young uns are still around, Lord, help me make the most of it and cherish every minute. One day these 2 kiddos that God chose to bless us with will leave the nest, but I will ALWAYS hold them in my heart.

Spring In Our Yard

I love this time of year!

Big fatty ol’ rose in the front yard.

I think this is jasmine. It smells fabulous.

Up in the left corner is our family of mourning doves. I was wondering if they were going to come back this year. I first spotted one in the nest on January 19. They came early.

Section of the front yard with some rose bushes.

Front Porch Happenings

Sophie A Mama Again!

I just had a feeling she was going to have more, and I finally saw one of the new babies yesterday.(There are actually 2 again!) I guess this must be a convenient place to hatch a family.

Got Spiders?

This black widow decided to return after my husband had hosed off the porch. These guys don’t alarm me as much now that my kids are older.  I got as close as I dared so I could get the red hour glass on the belly.  So, what kind of critters do you have in your neck of the woods?

All By Myself

One of the baby mourning doves(can’t tell if it’s Francis(es)Dale or Ashton Avery)was left by itself for the first time yesterday.  I’m guessing that mom and the other baby may have gone out for flying lessons.  How quickly these birds grow up!  From what I’ve read, they’ll be able to reproduce when they are 85 days old.  Perhaps human childhood is not as fleeting as I thought it was. 

First Father’s Day Family Portrait

Wonder of all wonders!  I saw Randall fly to the nest and was able to get a shot of the whole family together. Keep in mind that it’s not the greatest, because I was indoors and shooting through the window. From left to right are baby Francis(es) Dale Mourning Dove, Sophie and Randall.  Randall was only there for less than a minute when Sophie took off.  Perhaps young Francis(es) and Randall will have a little father-child bonding time today.  Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there!

edit: June 16th a.m. – As I was looking through the binoculars this morning, I saw not one, but two baby birds.  That Sophie is just full of surprises!  Now we’ll have to come up with a name for the other baby.

I Spy A Little One!

When I came downstairs this morning, Sophie was huddled in a big mass and looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame.  I stared for a few minutes and thought I saw some of her feathers fluttering, even though she was sitting very still.  I grabbed the binoculars and for the first time, was able to see Sophie’s offspring!  I know she has a least one baby, maybe two.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a picture later, but for now I’m rejoicing in knowing that there is a young ‘un.  It’s going to be a happy Father’s Day for Randall.  LOL

What’s Up With Sophie?

In case you’re wondering who Sophie is, that is the name I’ve given to the mourning dove that is on my header and has a nest high up on our front porch.  If my calculations are correct, she should have given birth by now, but I have not been able to see any young uns. 

 

My son got a little too close for comfort trying to take this picture, and Sophie freaked and flew away for a few minutes.  Even with her out of the nest, we couldn’t get high enough to see if there was an egg or two up there.

A few days ago, I came outside and saw Randall(daddy dove)sitting below the nest(with Sophie above)on the front porch.  It looked like a waiting room scenario to me.  I guess I’ll just keep watching and waiting until I know something more definite.  I’ve been spying with the binoculars too, but still haven’t seen any young ones.  I think Sophie’s hiding them behind her body. 

 

 

We’re Being Revisited!

 

 

 

A dove has come by and decided to give an area of our front porch a try as a place to build her nest. (the back porch didn’t work too well) Because of the location(up in the top right hand corner of our front porch)it was a little difficult to get pictures, but I was able to get a few. The first two pictures I took from inside the house by standing on a step stool and pointing the camera toward our upper living room window.  I’m going to be watching this unfolding drama each day, and hopefully, I’ll have more pictures to post soon.  God’s creatures are certainly interesting!

 

We’ve Got A Visitor

The past few days, I’ve been hearing this bird with a rather loud chirp in our backyard.  I had a feeling this bird was looking for somewhere to build a nest, and sure enough this morning, I found the nest right below our little balcony.  I couldn’t resist this Kodak moment(or should I say Canon Power Shot A560 moment).

 

         

Edit – 5/4/08 – My husband had to clean the pool and that contraption you see by the bird’s nest is the pool vacuum.  When he went to get it, the bird freaked out and flew away.  He really didn’t mean to frighten the poor thing.  The bird was hanging around on the neighbor’s roof waiting for my husband to go inside.  Apparently, when my husband went in, the bird did try to go back to the nest, but I don’t think the nest was sturdy enough without that pool vacuum against it.  We found the nest on the cement along with a cracked egg.      We feel bad, but there’s nothing we can do at this point.