In celebration of Mother's Day, I'm sharing my mama dove and her baby that she raised on my front porch. At this point she was pretty ready for junior (in the background) to depart from the nest. She would nudge him and flap her wings, encouraging him to take flight, and often just leave on her own, ostensibly to encourage the reluctant youngster to follow. It took a while, but junior finally did take flight. The day after I took this they had both departed. I still see them hanging around the front yard at times, but neither of them seems to want to get back in the nest. I guess I can now get back to watering the hanging plant that she commandeered.
Nice to know Mama Pidge raised another to adulthood! I watched some nestlings jump out of the nest and because they didn't have a good tail, could not fly anywhere. I worried about them but learnt they would hop somewhere safe and Mama would find them and feed them.
Wonderful capture of mother and baby. And he is a big baby! Glad they made it through safely and so great that you were able to watch the entire process.
@redy4et Thanks Elizabeth. It sure is a big baby. I was shocked at how quickly he went from little tiny thing to gigantic baby! No wonder she was so anxious to get him out of the nest!
@k1w1 Ha ha! I've wondered the same thing sometimes. I saw a report the other day about the animals at Wild Animal Park kind of missing the visiting humans.
@pcoulson Thanks much, Peter. I noticed the lighting too when I was dressing up the photo. I wish I could take credit for it, but in fact it was more a matter of luck. Sometimes it works in our favor!
