Baby Mourning Dove

[CJ Swartz]

We had a very strong wind ahead of a thunderstorm Tuesday evening, and this little one lost its home in my formerly big palo verde tree (which lost several large branches). Couldn't find its nest, but fed him/her and then put him out near the tree for mama to find. Mama has been feeding it and spending time with it each day since. Birds do not reject babies touched by humans - mama has watched me hold it to check on its health, and appears to know that I mean no harm. Took a picture yesterday while I held it.

[0lBaldy]

How Precious!

[lkroll]

Way too cute not to play with Carolyn. Kept it simple though (mainly Xero Supersmooth for aniso effect).

[CJ Swartz]

OB - glad you like the mama and baby.

Lyle - Simple and sweet - wish I could show it to the mama!

[Veralisa]

How kind of you CJ.

Well, since one of your shots is entitled "bird in the hand" I thought it would be fun to call this one, "worth two in a bush".
Gosh darn it, I love birds so much. Look at it's pin feathers! How fortunate it will be to survive. Then you'll have your very own pet dove.

I enhanced the colors, then good old Photoshop film grain & diffused glow. The "bush" is a pot of herbs.

Lyle, that is really a very nice technique. I think I was out to the mailbox when everyone was learning aniso effect. Looks good.

[Janet Petty]

What a kind heart you have. I'm glad you rescued the little displaced bird.

Janet

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by Veralisa

Well, since one of your shots is entitled "bird in the hand" I thought it would be fun to call this one, "worth two in a bush".
...How fortunate it will be to survive. Then you'll have your very own pet dove.

...The "bush" is a pot of herbs.

Originally Posted by Janet Petty

... I'm glad you rescued the little displaced bird. Janet

Veronica - love the "two in a bush"! Love the use of the pot of herbs to replace the original - looks great. Also glad to see that the little one in the photo has a sibling - there are usually two babies, and I don't know what happened to this one's sibling. It will NOT be a "pet dove", however, and it is thankfully already starting to react with more fear of me when I come close to check on it - as it should in order to live as a wild bird. My cats would not be nice to a pet bird, and this one needs to be ready to fly as soon as one of them comes out the door -- once it fledges and I can let them out the door again.

Janet, I'm glad I rescued it also - I'm especially happy that its mother came back for it and actually has done the feeding since the first night. I did have to "save it" again last night - we had ANOTHER rain storm (!!!) and I brought it onto the patio to keep from washing away. Poor baby - born in a desert and has almost drowned twice in 4 days!!

[lkroll]

Excellent Veronica; man I was slow; had to wait to read Carolyn's reply to realize the two in the bush analogy. lol

[sharynideas]

CJ-congratulations on saving the baby dove. He seems to be thriving. I rescued one earlier this summer but I was able to return it to its nest. I was amazed at how long the babies are in the nest. I think it was well over two weeks from the time they hatched until they flew and even after they flew, they hung around the grape vine where the nest was for about another two weeks. Doves make such flimsy nests it's amazing any of them survive.
Shari

[CJ Swartz]

From what I read, most doves fledge at age 11 days to 15 days. They do stay with their parents after fledging, like a number of other birds, to learn more about feeding and life. I love watching juvenile grackles (a form of blackbird) - they still beg mom for food when they are almost as large as she is, AND she feeds them. You'll see two birds, then notice that one is fluttering it wings, opening its beak and squatting down a bit, and then follows the other bird (mom) around if she ignores him. They are like loafing teenagers, hanging around on the couch asking for you to bring them a bag of cheetos. I've never seen other bird species act that way.

The little dove was gone from its nesting area this morning - haven't seen it or mama so far today. Hopefully, the baby fledged and they are grazing nearby.

[sharynideas]

Originally Posted by CJ Swartz

.
The little dove was gone from its nesting area this morning - haven't seen it or mama so far today. Hopefully, the baby fledged and they are grazing nearby.

Oh, I hope so too. Happy birdwatching.