At Last, A Happy Farewell

You may recall that I'd had two nests of baby Ringneck Doves hatched June 8, 10 and 11. I posted lots of blog updates on their growth. Well, all four of them grew up and were ready for new homes. I placed an ad with photos in the Want Ad Digest:

A week or two later, I hadn't had so much as an inquiry from that ad, so I place another ad in the online Albany Times Union. Yet another week or two went by without so much as an inquiry:

These first three photos, by the way, are of the two babies from nest #1, both of which hatched on June 8. They've certainly grown into lovely, graceful birds:

And this is one of the babies from nest #2, hatched June 11. It was born totally naked, a day later than its nest mate and never grew as well. But as it grew, I realized that it was a true albino with the "silky," fancy feathers. This was a special baby:

The albino baby not only lagged behind the others in growth rate, but was slow to feather out. When the parents stopped feeding the babies, this one balked and for a while, I thought it might not be able to become self sufficient. But it began eating and growing and all was well:

This is the other baby from nest #2, hatched on June 10. I think it's a female because it's long, lean and graceful:

Isn't she lovely?:

I was becoming desperate to find homes for these four babies and stopped at the Rensselaer Bird Center to ask about putting up a poster. I got talking to the owners and they agreed to take them and find them homes:

So I put all four baby doves into a small cage and drove them to the store one day after work. In case you've never been inside, this place is a bird lover's paradise:

They have birds, cages, feeds, treats, toys, perches, toys and much more:

These nice people put my four doves into a large cage with natural perches, high quality seed and grit and even a bird swing. One of the owners has a dove which uses a swing. And in case you're wondering, that is indeed a live African Gray perched outside the community flight enclosure. He has functions as one of the official greeters:

While my doves' new digs were being set up, I toured the store. It's truly an amazing place and even has a resident dog and cat:

One room appeared to be devoted to large Macaws:

And every bird had lots and lots of colorful toys:

This is a fascinating place for any animal lover, and their customers are all bird lovers. I've purchased birds there myself:

So the story of the four baby doves has a happy ending. They have gone to a bird paradise and should soon have new homes with people who love birds: