Saturday, January 15, 2011

Mourning Doves!

Nothing makes me calmer
than to watch
my
beloved Mourning Doves
outside
on a day where
the snowflakes
are
slowly...
  slowly
        drifting
              down

So, today, I have nothing but pictures of them for you.


Sit with your feet up, a warm cup of coffee and maybe your Snuggie..
and
let's take a look...
shall we?



I love how they puff up to stay warm on the branch:







I love their tawny and golden feathers:








Many fly in,
in pairs...









And they just roost there, sometimes for a few hours at a time.







Just watching the busy, hectic world go by:









Such peace.








Such grace.








They roost in silence...sometimes hardly moving:








Sometimes, as daylight just happens
and I stumble out to the kitchen
to put on the coffee....
I look out my window towards the winter lake,
and
they are there, resting
and to greet me
Good Morning:






And waiting patiently
at the feeders
to prod me to
fill them up for their breakfast:

My grown daughter teases me because I tell her the birds
STARE
at me.

Now?

I have proof.

I'd say this one is saying:
"Bring out the breakfast will you? I've been waiting for you to wake up for HOURS!"

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18 comments:

  1. great pics....and yes such peace...and when they do coo..how beautiful...

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  2. my favorite bird is the Pelican, my second favorite is the dove. i love the pelican because they are so ugy they are cute. the doves I love because they are so sweet and gentle and they are not afraid of people, I love to listen to them cooing to each other. sadly most of ours are gone, i used to sit in my swing and watch them like you watched these and put my head back and listen. our new preserve is a couple of miles by air, there are many Eagles and Hawks, now we have more of them and the poor doves have been desicmated because they are so easy to catch. i miss them and loved this post

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  3. Great post, I enjoy your prose as much as I do the pix.

    xoxo

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  4. Yes they are staring. I have two that love to eat on the roof of my new feeder, thanks to your design idea. I hope it is warm in the south.

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  5. We have mourning doves here too. They make such mournful sounds! And not too bright... I've nearly run over a few of them on the road. They wait until the last second to fly off. Perhaps they're playing chicken!

    Did you ever find out the name of that white bird with the orange face?

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  6. What pretty birds. They are so sweet waiting for you to give them their breakfast.

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  7. AWESOME photos ! I have been trying to get photos of our Cardnial but he is very skitish . My favorite bird is the Robin. I love all kinds of birds , nature in general ! Have a great weekend!

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  8. We have just a few and they do sit an wait patiently until the sparrows are done eating. When the food is gone the sparrows chirp so loudly it's deafening so they do talk as best they can :O)

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  9. I don't know much about birds, but I do know that I love them. Mourning Doves are some of favorites. Nice photos Joan!

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  10. We have been watching the Mourning doves here as well. Yesterday my husband counted over 30 in our backyard. It's true - the sit patiently beckoning for the feeder to be filled. They are so graceful and beautiful.
    'hugs from afar'

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  11. p.s. You really have captured some wonderful shots of them! Thanks for sharing.

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  12. I'm not fond of birds in general....except for the Mourning Dove. They are so serene and lovely and peaceful. There is no frenetic activity of doves. Their coo is soft and comforting. They are just beautiful. When I lived in CA we had a pair of doves who built their next on the ground directly across from our front door. There was only about five feet of space between the door and the nest. They were not at all upset when we walked by in our comings and goings. It was delightful.

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  13. Wow, I've never seen so many in one place! Must tell you that I followed the link to read more about mourning doves because they fascinate my grandson. Then I spent an hour reading up on nest boxes to see what might work in our smallish yard. Good thing I'm retired now so I have time, yes?

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  14. I have a lot of Mourning Doves around here also. I feel bad for them sometimes in this real cold weather. When I go over the bridge to the next town to shop there must be about 50 of them sitting on wire over the water. The wires must be warm because it sure is cold over the water like that. They are peaceful looking birds but I have seen them be aggressive towards another one when it gets in their territory. Really nice photos of them Joan!!

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  15. Hi Joan, Oh how I love the Mourning Doves... I had 3 on my deck this week---trying to find something to eat. I try to keep the deck swept when it snows --so that the ground eaters can find the seed as the birds in the feeders above spill it... That one was giving you the "look"... ha

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  16. I really enjoy the first picture...he looks so proud sitting atop of that branch with his belly puffed up; delightful!

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  17. They are beautiful..and you have captured them so well! :)

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