Sherwood gives a birth to little baby Dove: A Bird-God of Peace Making

Every year, a lady Mourning Dove gives birth to couple of baby doves in our backyard. Shiv was fascinated to see the creation of the nature so close to our environment and that too in our own dwelling. So he decided to monitor the growth of the little baby dove for couple of days. Shiv was fortunate enough to even capture the feeding by parent Dove to the baby Dove.

The parent usually start feeding the baby on the first day within a few hours of hatching. The parent will start eating heavily when the egg starts pipping.

A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America.

Mourning Doves often match their open-country surroundings. They’re delicate brown to buffy-tan overall, with black spots on the wings and black-bordered white tips to the tail feathers.

You must have often come across the following Songs:

The song (or “perch-coo”) is given mainly by unmated males from a conspicuous perch. It’s a soft coo-oo followed by two or three louder coos.

And the Call like this:

You can often hear paired males give the three-parted “nest call” while nest-building: a coo-OO-oo, highest in the middle. Females sometimes call ohr ohr while sitting on the nest

Some of the COOL FACTS :

• During the breeding season, you might see three Mourning Doves flying in tight formation, one after another. This is a form of social display. Typically the bird in the lead is the male of a mated pair. The second bird is an unmated male chasing his rival from the area where he hopes to nest. The third is the female of the mated pair, which seems to go along for the ride. This is just like following Bollywood formula Movie wherein the villain follows the Hero, while the  poor Heroine drags on
• Mourning Doves eat roughly 12 to 20 percent of their body weight per day, or 71 calories on an average.
• Perhaps one reason why Mourning Doves survive in the desert: they can drink brackish spring water (up to almost half the salinity of sea water) without becoming dehydrated the way humans would.
• The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. Every year hunters harvest more than 20 million, but the Mourning Dove remains one of our most abundant birds with a U.S. population estimated at 350 million.
• The oldest known Mourning Dove was 31 years 4 months old

With their loose nestlings

The baby dove is delicate brown to buffy-tan overall, with black spots on the wings and black-bordered white tips to the tail feathers. Trying to brave out near the Pagoda

Trying to get his head out

The mother keeps a watch

Not scared of the humans, keeps it's agile to watch the kiddo safety

Mom and the baby

Closer look

Feeding starts on the very first day

Grossly involved in feeding

The parent eat more during the feeding days

Caressing

Healthy baby out to make his own journey

                                            Learns to sit on a higher and sound solid platform