The baby dove on the left is 3 days old, from nest #1. The baby dove on the right is 0 days old, from nest #2. You can see how astoundingly rapid is their growth rate. You can also see why I think Ringneck Doves would be such wonderful pets for gentle children to teach them about nature. What other birds would be happy to allow people to pick up their newly hatched babies?:
A close-up of a 3 day old baby from nest #1. Truly, this is a face which only a mother or father could love. And both father and mother doves share the work of parenting equally. They both feed their babies pigeon milk and set on the nest, keeping the hatchlings safe and warm:
Mama dove on nest #1 with her 3 day old nestlings. I used to say that doves showed no protective instinct at all, but I've recently seen this mom get very protective when Daphne puts her front feet on the cage and stares at the nest. Mama prepares to strike the intruding puppy with her wings:
One last photo. These are the 3 day old babies from nest 1. They were born with yellow fuzz and I therefore assumed they'd be white adults. But at only 3 days old, they're already turning into pieds, white doves with darker patches which you can already see in this photo:
I have a morning dove that made a nest in a bag of twigs where I store wood. She is very protective of her youngun and egg yet to hatch. She threatens to beat my hand with her wings if I try to offer her mealworms.
ReplyDeleteMourning Doves eat almost all seeds, but she might give them a try if you leave them for her and go away so she feels safe. Or leave her wild bird seed.
DeleteI've noticed with mine as I've also read on another page that holding the babies can upset the parents and cause them to reject the babies. I had to poke my female back towards the nest to get her to keep the baby warm. All I had done was change the nest to a clean one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I never had a parent who was bothered by me holding the babies, perhaps because I did it infrequently, calmly and briefly. But of course like with people, each bird has its own personality.
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