CURRENT MOON

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Doves


Well Mamma and Pappa Mourning Dove are now ensconced upon (what appears to my eyes to be a bit of) a haphazard nest in the v. same spot upon the grape arbor where they have nested for the last three years. This is, for me, a v. great blessing, a benediction, a sign of grace -- that the mourning doves keep coming back here and making their home up against the western wall of mine. Mamma, no matter how terrified she may have been of me, wasn't budging from her nest this afternoon, as I slowly walked closer and closer to her spot. I held out yarn scraps and kept telling her, "I'd never hurt you." She's intent upon either laying her eggs or keeping them warm, I can't tell which.

Tomorrow, I am meeting w/ my v. gifted landscape designer and I will have to explain to him that the work in the backyard will either have to go around the mourning doves or wait until their (generally only one baby or) babies are raised. These doves sing to me in the morning. Their sweet grey breasts grace my quince bush and my fig trees and my climbing rose. It's their yard, too.

Anyone know a great fixture to put on an outside wall that will please the doves as much next year as this arbor has pleased them lo these many years?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any reason you can't hang/plant/attach an arbor to a wall? Roses would grow up around it nicely.

Alt. idea: a ...thing I don't remember the name of, like a bowl but just half of it? If a water outlet is handy or could be installed easily it could serve as a small fountain.

(not knowing what this wall is composed of...I am picturing brick but this probably wouldn't work well on chainlink)

:)

Anne Johnson said...

If you have old-fashioned triple track storm windows and old-fashioned inner windows, you can just put up the storm tracks, and the dove will use the window of your house. For a wall I would suggest one of those shelf things, like a shower caddy.

A wren once nested in the flower box on my front porch. That was when I had the money to buy silk flowers for the boxes. One night my family was outside eating dinner at the porch table. I looked into the box, and there sat the mama (or papa) wren, in a little cavity among the silk flowers.

Have to use silk because there's not enough light to grow real stuff.

Cat said...

We just bought our first home and the is at least one if not two mourning doves that visit our back yard, not to mention the hummers, jays and mocking birds we attract. I look forward to seeing the mourning dove as it seems so gentle, although I worry for it/them as we also inherited a feral cat in the front yard.

What about a small pergola in the garden?

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