PHOTOS BY HAMLIN GRANGE
We have babies!
“We” being the pair of doves that nest in the vines just outside our window.
These birds are monogamous. Their roles are quite specific at first and perfectly illustrate the term “nesting”. The male selects the spot for the nest (“Hey Babe: I’ve found us a nice piece of property!”) He also collects the twigs and brings them to the female, who builds the nest.
After that, the parenting duties are shared equally: the egg-sitting (the male sits on the eggs during the day, the female at night) and the baby-feeding duties, and watching out for predators.
This morning, we noticed that the mother/father had left the nest for a little while, so Hamlin took this photo through the window:
Isn’t it a strange-looking little grey bundle? They hardly look like birds!
Meanwhile, under our deck, the robins have built a nest. This couple shares the gathering of twigs, and the female builds the nest alone. It usually takes her 2 to 6 days.
I’m wondering if the female had help this time because the nest was built in just one day. (It was built after a night of soaking rain, which is ideal for gathering building materials.)
And that, in my uninformed opinion, is an amazing feat. So we’ve decided to let the nest be.
Which means, when the robin babies are born, we’ll be dive-bombed every time we pass. Yikes.
Ain’t nature grand?
Cynthia Reyes 