My Doves

I call them mine, but of course no wild bird belongs to any human.  They really like my bougainvillea baskets. Last summer they nested 3 times in the same basket.  This year, they nested twice in the same basket, and then they moved to another right next to it for their third time.  The other basket had a lot more leaves and offered them more concealment as most of the leaves had fallen off of the original basket from very infrequent watering.  Of course, now that they are in the second basket and I am able to water the first. All the leaves are coming back really quickly.  Guess all that bird poop makes good fertilizer. 

Two babies ...Doesn't Mama?Daddy look proud?

Mama and Daddy Dove patiently take turns sitting on the eggs until they hatch. I speak to them every time I go in or out that door. They are not the least bit afraid of me.  They will even switch off on the nest with me right there watching.  One time I even changed a light bulb next to the back door and within a foot of the nest.  Once the babies hatch, they grew very rapidly.

 
The babies grow so fast. I don't see how there was room in that tiny nest for them all.

  Once they leave the nest, the babies tend to stick around in my garden.  They don't seem to be the least bit afraid of me. They all seem quite at home in my garden, mainly in the snapdragons, but also in the rest of the garden and on the fence.

Baby in the Snapdragons

Babies

Mama and Daddy

Doves in my Spring Garden

More Baby Pictures