Mourning dove and chicks, about one week old

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Mourning dove and chicks, about one week old

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Apr. 5th, 2009 at 7:32 PM

Last week's little fuzzballs are now looking more feathered, and were amusingly sitting one head out, one rump out when I checked up on them this afternoon.

Mourning dove and chicks (about a week old)

Current Mood: exploding sinuses

( 8 comments — Leave a comment )

ottermoo

Apr. 6th, 2009 03:27 am (UTC)

I hope the front passes and your sinuses feel better!!

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oddharmonic

Apr. 6th, 2009 04:57 am (UTC)

Thank you! Accuweather says the front will move out Monday night. I helped myself a bit by working up the trigger points on my back with a massage roller to release the tension building up in my upper back and shoulders. Other than that I'm staying well-hydrated and not taking another 12-hour Sudafed until tomorrow (and only if I feel really bad). I don't like the wired feeling I get after a few hours from it.

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revme

Apr. 6th, 2009 01:22 pm (UTC)

Sinuses can go to hell.

Those are beautiful birds. I like the mommy's blue eye-ring.

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oddharmonic

Apr. 6th, 2009 07:07 pm (UTC)

The mother bird is remarkably docile about letting us walk up to her nest. Laurel and Vogon were both initially worried she was ill or dying, but so far she appears to be in good health, she's just saving all her energy for chick-rearing.

I missed seeing it firsthand, but apparently for the first week or so the hatchlings are fed regurgitated liquid (crop milk), then they're weaned to seeds. That explains why they chose my patio -- we usually have out a feeder of black thistle seed for the finches. At first we put out both songbird mix and black thistle, but between the doves (who are sweet but not too bright) and the occasional large bird (blue jay? grackle? not sure) trying to land on it anyway and spilling the seed all over the place, we cut back to just the thistle seed. The finches are less messy because they eat whatever seed they get on the patio floor.

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revme

Apr. 6th, 2009 07:47 pm (UTC)

Part of it, too, is that the birds trust you -- which is such a great, cool feeling. That's how a lot of the wildlife are at my parents'; especially the raccoons. I love how they'll bring the babies over and it's so adorable. They are little puff-balls with puff-ball tails. I told you about the time a couple years ago when the mommy raccoon had my mom babysit, right?

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oddharmonic

Apr. 6th, 2009 11:51 pm (UTC)

I never thought of that. Like the cats we've had warming up to me, I always figured they liked me because I am usually the one that puts out food.

Baby raccoons sound like cute overload. And your mom got to babysit them?! That is SO cute. I might have to fan myself now. *fans wildly*

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revme

Apr. 7th, 2009 02:04 am (UTC)

Yes! When I was still living at home, I got up one morning -- around 5:30AM or so, my normal time -- and saw some action on the deck; I turned on the light, and saw two baby raccoons, alone, acting really nervous. I popped in to let mom and dad know (I don't know if I NEEDED to, I guess, but I was concerned, and they didn't mind that I woke them, heh....), and we all feared the worst; that perhaps their mommy had gone out for food and gotten killed in a fight or something.

So, anyway, as they day goes on, they get a bit less nervous and end up playing a bit -- jumping in our pond and suchlike, and around 4PM, the mommy saunters up and collects them. Which was very good news, of course. So, basically, she just needed some time off, and knew that our deck was a safe place. So that's pretty awesome... though I wish she's have asked first, because I was nervous all day at work, heh.

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