Two doves, now four

A pair of mourning doves made a nest in the planter box on the front porch. I saw an egg in a rare moment when one of the doves wasn’t sitting on the nest.

Then, one day, we saw two chicks half the size of the parents who were switching off taking care of them.

Then, the rapidly growing birds were perched down below on the porch swing. And then they were gone.

My wife and I never had children of our own, but the dove nest now seems very empty outside our window and I catch myself looking out for those young doves. I startled one out of the spring growth on the side of our house. The young dove flew up to the maple tree. I was glad for that.

For so long those parents had just sat there, occasionally fluffing their feathers against the cold. What patience! And then in about a month of my time, they had come and gone. Two more doves in the world and some stray grasses and twigs to sweep off the porch.

One neighbor girl is in Colorado, the other in Oregon. Successfully fledged. They flew through last Christmas with their parents. It was good to see them on our front porch again.

Click on photos to enlarge them.