It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.
There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Little Dove


About 2 summers ago, I noticed one of the plants on my kitchen window box was looking messy.
I didn't give it much thought at first until I saw the impatien next to it was getting messy too.
Tiny thin pieces of sticks, twigs, leaves etc were appearing , seemingly out of the blue.
Which, in a way, that is what was happening ... the doves were flying in with the pieces they needed for a nice cushy nest in an out of the way spot for their new babies nursery.
I was thrilled.
This was my first up close and personal view of nests from beginning to end.
I allowed the sacrifice of the impatien plant, I closed the shade and did not open it until they left.
Yes, I peeped out there often and eventually, Mama Dove became used to it and just gave me The Eye.
Eventually, bald wormlike babies grew fuzz, then little feathers, then left ... just like that, here one day, gone the next.
They never even said goodbye~
About a month ago, we noticed little bits and pieces of twigs on the corner of our balcony, at the front of our building .. the balcony to this room.
It is over the street, several floors up and there are decorative iron railings but nothing solid that might keep , oh, say a baby dove from tumbling off while learning to fly.
I had my worries.
Time has gone by and there was the day we discovered 2 tiny perfect eggs.
I moved some of the plants around so I could see better without going near the nest.
Mama dove sat on the nest day and night.
I worried she would starve.

Then one day when she flew away for a bit of time, we discovered 2 tiny bare naked little dove babies.
I made sure the plants were just so around the nest so there would be plenty of privacy but I could see out there without disturbing anyone.
The plants have been thirsty, they are not getting watered with such regularity now.

Yesterday, big storms were forecast.
It has been ridiculously hot and airless.
I worried that the babies would die of heat stroke .. or mama dove would faint from the heat.
She flew away in the late afternoon, I moved my big jade plant so that the wind might not blow the little babies, now covered with yellow fluff, off the balcony while she was gone.

I kept checking, mama dove had not returned as of dark.
I worried.

This morning, Mama dove is not there.
I can only see one baby.
It went from one side of the nest to the middle and is just huddled there waiting.

This Living with Nature thing is not so great, if you ask me.
How am I going to feed that baby ?
Can I hire a bird to teach it to fly ?

They say people who live in apartment buildings are separated from Nature , that people who live in houses on the ground enjoy that aspect of life better.
"They", haven't lived in an apartment in Argentina !


5 comments:

  1. I wonder what happened to the mama bird? Being up on a balcony, you wouldn't think there were any predators. But, who knows. Maybe a cat? A hawk? I guess you will have to get out a bottle and be a bird-mama, C! I hope it survives. Life is so precarious, isn't it?

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  2. I worry that while mama bird was out getting food for herself, a cat/bird of prey might have gotten her :(
    I was sure that , as you say, being on a balcony, they would be safe .. so far the babies are huddled together now and probably hungry :(

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  3. Oh no, I was waiting for the happy ending. I hope all will be well.

    You are so lovely to keep watch and worry.

    xo,
    Tish

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can see it now... I will be obsessed over these little birds. Their mama has not returned. They are sitting, huddled together .. I don't see a happy ending :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. I posted my last comment, stood up from my desk, looked out a the corner of the balcony where the nest lies and there was Mama Dove staring at me. I think she said something about Thanks for caring.
    phew ~

    ReplyDelete

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