Tag Archives: Mourning Dove

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #102: Quiet Moments

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This week, Patti is challenging us to capture “A Quiet Moment.”  Maybe it’s a walk early in the morning or the time you sit down with a book and a cup of coffee.  Include shots captured at home or in your neighborhood, or from a trip to a faraway place months or years ago.

Yesterday was the first time we got together with Hubby’s siblings. They live in a quiet place with neighbors who are acres away. We practiced the social distancing, wearing masks, sitting several feet apart. Hubby and I brought our own food, water, and utensils for lunch. It was surreal that we finally see each other after a time that seems like an eternity. We didn’t have a large family party; we only had a precious quiet lunch with a few members.

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A pair of mourning doves fixed up the old nest on June 5, the female dove came back to lay eggs on June 7. Today, June 22, the dove took a break from her incubation. I stole the chance to take a photo of the nest. One squab was hatched. It’s amazed of how tiny the eggs are. According to my observation during the previous years, the dove would nurture the squabs until they are mature. By the time the squabs are ready to fly, they are as big as the adult doves.

The squabs are quietly growing.

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After I spotted a Monarch and a Swallowtail butterflies in my garden, I looked into cultivating a butterfly garden.

The Monarchs face many risks that are resulting in declining populations in both the eastern and western parts of their North American range. The largest effects come from the loss of habitat for breeding, migrating, and overwintering. In addition, pesticides that are used to control insects and weeds have harmful unintended consequences for monarchs, a changing climate may make some habitat less suitable and forcing changes in migratory patterns, and monarchs face many risks from natural enemies, such as predators, parasitoids, and diseases.

The loss of milkweed in agricultural fields is a major cause of decline in monarchs, though there are other factors contributing to the decline in milkweed availability.

If you’re interested, you can download a Milkweeds: A Conservation Practitioner’s Guide https://www.xerces.org/publications/guidelines/milkweeds-conservation-practitioners-guide

I wanted to create a butterfly garden from seeds. I ordered the California native Narrow leave and Showy milkweed seeds.

The seeds are in quiet germination.

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I wait with anticipation to see more butterflies in my garden.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #102: Quiet Moments

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #97- Pastimes

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Thank you, Sue (Mac’s Girl), for hosting the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week. COVID19 gives us more time to stay home and spend more time on our hobbies and pastimes.

I have many passionate hobbies, enough to occupy three times of my lifetime. For this post, I only focus on two activities I’m engaged in daily, which are gardening and enjoying the amazing creatures in my garden.

 

There are four fruit trees and two grape vines in my garden. I have a different story about the plum trees this year. In the winter of 2018-2019, there were seven weeks of rain that soaked the plum trees to produce gorgeous blooms. The warm sun came to keep the clovers strong and pretty to invite the bees. The bees found their way to pollinate the plum blossoms which yielded 1,100 plum. Well, the rain, the clovers, the sun, and the bees didn’t coordinate this year, and I could see about 10% of the plums growing compared to that of last year.

 

I appreciate the year-round flowering of the hibiscus and roses. Their graciousness, loyalty, and steadfast to bloom were the inspiration of my poetry.

 

I started watching and feeding the birds in 2014. My regular visitors are the Mourning Doves, House Finches, and sparrows. The Scrub Jay and Pin-tailed Whydah paid occasional visits. I used to put the bird seeds on several spots of the top of the retaining wall closed to the slope where they searched for food. Unfortunately, the stray cats crept under the bushes, darted upward to snatch the Mourning Doves, then dashed away. It made me so mad. I used the chicken wire to fence off the area, but the cats outsmarted me. My new spot for the bird seeds is now on the patio ground.

 

I would like to have flocks of butterflies, but only a few visited. The Mourning Cloak butterflies came a few times. The Monarch came, but there were only two. I planted the Butterfly bush, but the growth is too slow to attract butterflies. Last week, a Monarch delighted me to visit the Salvia plant. The bees and the hummingbirds love the Salvia plant also. Two days ago, I bought four of the 2-gallon pots Salvia and planted them strategically to feed the hummingbirds and attract bees to pollinate the plum blossoms next year.

3 Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa butterfly

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #97- Pastimes

 

 

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #46 – Delicate

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This week, Anne-Christine invited us to look at a delicate matter, may it be soft or light – like the scent of a rose…; having a thin, attractive shape – delicate hands for example…; fragile or easily damaged – like fine china…; pleasant but not easily noticed – like a delicate floral pattern on the walls…or just being ”a delicate matter.”

There are many bird egg stories in my garden. The incubation seems like a delicate situation for birds.

In the summer of 2018 when we came home from a trip, I found a nest hanging on the Date Palm branches with an abandoned egg. There were three different sizes of nests on the ground and one broken egg. My neighbor said there was windstorm while we were gone and caused the disasters for the birds’ motherhood.

The House Finches built a nest on the top layer of the trellis in my front porch in 2015. The three eggs disappeared after several days. I was sad and went online to ask an expert of what happened to the eggs. The answer was it happened all the time because animals could climb up to steal the eggs. I took a while to get over with the sadness.

A pair of House Finches rebuilt the nest in the same location in 2016. The female bird laid three eggs and hatched four birds. I watched and took photos during the entire incubation and hatching period. The female bird would fly away if I came close to the nest. I tried to be slow when walking in front of the nest until the babies were hatched, matured and flown away.

 

 

Similar stories happened to the Mourning Doves. In 2016, a female dove found a location in a tree and sat there. The male dove brought twigs to build a nest around her. She laid eggs but came down from the tree after a few days. The female dove was sitting on the grass, motionless for an hour as if she was mourning for the loss. The male dove was standing a couple feet away, also in a still position. He only adjusted his head when she stood up. I was hiding under the patio table watching and taking photos. I didn’t know what happened to the eggs.

Then the Mourning Doves built a nest under our eaves and laid two eggs in 2017. Male and female doves took turns to incubate the eggs. When the babies were hatched, they watched them close by until the babies flew away.

 

 

When I found three nests on the ground in the summer of 2018 after a windstorm, I saved a better shaped one. I placed it on the top layer of the trellis, supported it with chicken wire, hoping some birds might use it. I didn’t look at the nest a just a few days. On May 9 this year, I found a mourning dove occupied the nest. It looked like they built a nest with twigs on top of the existing nest.  I only saw one dove there and I worried that she might be hungry. I put some bird seeds on the ground a few feet from the trellis. At first, she didn’t seem to come down to eat. The last few days, she came down briefly to eat.

 

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May 2019

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May 2019

I did a research today and found out that, the male and female doves look alike. The male may incubate during daytime and the female does it at night. It takes 14-15 days for incubation and the young will leave the nest in 12-14 days.

I hope that the doves will be successful in hatching their babies this year.

 

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #46 – Delicate

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #11: Small Is Beautiful

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For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Amy chose ”Small Is Beautiful” for the theme.

I have some wonderful small creatures in my garden. They are all beautiful and keep my life cheerful year round.

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I was surprised by the visit of this beauty. This is Mourning Cloak butterfly by its Common name. The scientific name is Nymphalis antiopa. A very distinctive and charismatic butterfly, best known for its conspicuous activity in late winter, flying and acting territorial before any trees have leafed out or any wildflowers are active.

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Tuesday Photo Challenge – Promise

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The spring came late this year. The winter rain kept the sun away when the plum trees needed the warmth to bring out the blossoms. Regardless, the hard-working bees pollinated the blossoms as much as they could. It looks like the trees promise a fruitful harvest in the summer. The top right photo is apples and the bottom right is plums.

Just thought that I could relax to look forward to the harvest, I found out that the homeless and hungry cat has eaten three mourning doves in my backyard. The doves are not very alert. The cat hid behind the flowers and dashed out to the doves. I’m heart-broken and try to do my best to fence in some area for the birds. He’s behind a gate my neighbor installed to keep the dog in their yeard. The cat is flexible to go through any tiny area to get into my yard.

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Frank’s Dutch Goes the Photo: Tuesday Photo Challenge – Promise

Debbie’s Today’s Forgiving Fridays is about…Happy-ness!

Share Your World – June 4, 2018

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Cee posts excellent questions in this week’s Share Your World – June 4, 2018.

A piece of clothing from your younger childhood you still remember?

I came to the US 40 years ago as a student. I checked in 2 suitcases to my flight. I had one carry on, and my purse. I wish I had brought more sentimental items, but I couldn’t. In fact, my carry on was too full that the security people asked me to take out something to leave behind. The problem was that I packed them very tight. After I took out something and repacked them, the bag was bigger than before. If you like camping and roll every piece of clothing tight to make your packing compact, you could visualize how I packed my bag.

During my three years of studies in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, I moved 9 times. In 1980, I drove from Seattle to Los Angles, California by myself. It was 1,1 75 miles with 18 hours of driving. I stopped overnight in San Francisco. Next day I still arrived Los Angles after dark. The freeway was very intimidating to a new person in town.

Even if I had brought a piece of childhood clothing, it couldn’t have survived with so many moving. Fortunately, my sister had scanned some of my childhood photos and I made copies of them. The first one was when I was six years old. I wore a Chinese style top and matching fabric pants. The second photo was when I was in third grade with the school uniform, a white shirt and a blue skirt with straps.

 

 

 

Regardless of your physical fitness, coordination or agility: If you could be an athlete what would you do?   Remember this is SYW, dreaming is always allowed.I would like to be a competitive swimmer. I learned swimming in the ocean when I was in Hong Kong. After I graduated from college and started working, it was hard to find time to go to the beach. I went swimming in an outdoor pool in a park. During one swimming, I slipped and almost got drown. Ever since then, I was afraid of water. I still swim, but only in shallow water.

The photo was taken when Mercy, Will and her friend participated in the Triathlon.

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In a car would you rather drive or be a passenger?

I had driven long miles during my working life. I stayed in the same school district for 25 years even though we moved three times. The furthest distance was 30 miles with heavy traffic. The longest time it took to go to work was two and a half hours. The driving put a lot of stress on me, so we moved closer, but it was still a 21 miles drive.

After I retired, I don’t like to drive too much, especially at night. If I had a choice, I prefer to be a passenger.

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What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

I appreciate that I could spend the time to do gardening, trim the grape vines, watching the Red Throat Hummingbirds, the House Finch birds, and the Mourning Doves.

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Cee’s Share Your World – June 4, 2018

 

Tuesday/Weekly Photo Challenge – Baby Birds in the Summer

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Frank’s Tuesday Photo Challenge the prompt for this week is: Future

Weekly Photo Challenge is: Smile

I hope to see some baby birds successively hatched in the near future – summer 2018. Watching and feeding these birds put a smile on my face.

I have been feeding many kinds of birds. The Mourning Doves came back to my garden for the third year. The first year, the female dove laid eggs, but the eggs were stolen. 1) Last year, the female doves laid two eggs and both the male and female took turns to incubate the eggs. The eggs were successfully hatched to two healthy baby doves. I’m hoping the mourning doves will have chicks again this year.

I also have many House Finch in my garden. They had the same misfortune two years ago and lost their four eggs. 2) Last year, the female Finch laid three eggs and hatched four eggs. One must be twins. 3) The birds watched their chicks from the nearby tree. There are many pairs of House Finch in my garden. One pair checked out the old nest. I hope they would use the same nest to lay eggs again.

I feed them bird seeds every day to get them to be healthy and ready to be parents.

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I bought a new Hummingbird Feeder. The Red Throat Hummingbirds seem to like the feeder. There are not too many blooms around yet. So, the Hummingbirds come every twenty minutes for feeding. They seem to be a pair, I don’t know where they would build a nest.

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I just identified the White Crowned Sparrows in my garden. They may have been coming for years, but I didn’t pay attention to their features and I just googled and identify them as White Crowned Sparrow.

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White Crowned Sparrow

I may not see the Hummingbird babies, but I do hope to see the Mourning Dove’s chicks and the House Finch’s chicks. That is my hope for the near future – summer. In the meantime, I’ll feed them well.

Frank’s Dutch Goes the Photo: Tuesday Photo Challenge – Baby Birds in the Summer

Weekly Photo Challenge: Smile

Baby Doves Are Independent

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The baby doves were hatched eleven days ago. Mama and Papa Doves were feeding them and watching them nearby. The very first thing I do in the morning before having my coffee was to take a few photos of the baby doves to observe their growth.

This morning, as usual, I went to take photos. The nest was empty. I was a little bit worried. I was afraid that the babies had flown away without the parent doves’ knowing. Then, at the corner of my eye, I saw one baby dove under the geranium in my flower bed in the front yard. They must have flown down and gone to the shaded area. I walked around the semicircle flower bed to look for another baby. When I came back to the original position, I saw both babies sitting side by side.

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I put a plate of bird seeds close to the flower bed to feed the parent doves. Watching Mama and Papa ate from the late, the babies knew that the seeds were for them too. They were flying around in the close proximity to the feeding area. When they were away, other birds came for feeding also, so the baby dove had to wait for his turn.

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It was such a happy moment to see both baby doves were well and healthy!

Baby Doves Were Growing

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Mama Dove was still incubating on July 3, 2017. The first photos of the Baby Doves were taken on July 4. They must be hatched in the middle of the night. By the time I took the photos on the 4th in the afternoon, the first Baby’s feathers were dried. The second Baby’s feathers were still wet.

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First day of Baby Doves

On July 5th early in the morning, I saw Mama Dove was sitting with the second Baby lying sideways under Mama’s bosom. I wonder if Mama was staying with her all night to keep her warm. Mama didn’t stay with them all day. She had to go look for food or eat the bird seeds I put by their nest.

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Second Day

On July 6th in a late morning, Mama Dove was with the Babies again. This time, the first Baby was lying sideways underneath her. After the day turned warmer, she took off to find food.

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Third Day

On July 7th, both Babies looked good. The second Baby looked healthy, even though one spot under the chin still didn’t have feathers.  Mama was sitting side by side with Babies, no longer needed to keep them under her warm bosom.

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Two Baby Turtle Doves, Fourth Day

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Mama was sitting side by side with Big Baby, Fourth Day

Baby Doves were growing!

♪♫♥♫♪♥♫♪♥♫♪♥♫♪

Our Love

 

Two Baby Turtle Doves

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It was a surprise today to see the baby doves were hatched. The Mama and Papa doves were not around. One of the baby dove looked big with dry feathers. I thought it was Mama dove. When I zoom in the camera, I saw another baby, and its feathers were still a little bit wet. Then they switched positions. I looked around to make sure the parent birds were not nearby, I put a lounge chair close to the nest and stood on it to take a few photos. The baby with dried feathers must be born first, and the other one later. The first baby seems to be a boy and the second, a girl. They looked healthy and lovely. I am going to take another look tomorrow.

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