The Fire Ant Gazette - A Midland, Texas Blog | "Checking in on the Dove Family"

Checking in on the Dove Family
Category: Nature...
Posted Friday, July 06, 2007 at 08:08 PM [GMT-6]

Remember this photo, taken back on June 29, and described in this post?

Well, here's the result:

Photo of doves on nest, mother with two babies

Judging by the size of the baby birds (dovelets? dovettes?), I wonder if the mom wasn't actually nesting with new hatchlings in the first photo, instead of roosting on eggs. In any event, she continues her unflinching vigil over the young ones. I see another dove occasionally alight on the roof right above her head, although I haven't seen it join her on the nest. I don't know if the male and female share the nesting responsibilities.

Given the horrible nest-building skills of doves, I'd projected that they were also lackadaisical parents. That assessment appears unwarranted, at least in this case.

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Comments

The photos are nice, they look like they were taken with some kind of SLR.
Were they? The reason I ask is I'm a photographer and I love looking at others photos.

Posted by: Kyle at July 6, 2007 08:10 PM

Kyle, thanks for asking. I used a Canon Digital Rebel XT with a Canon 70-200 zoom lens, zoomed all the way in. Shutter speed was 1/60 sec, aperture 4.0, and I used the camera's built-in flash, as the ladder is under the eave of the house and fairly dark.

And I'm not a photographer; I just like taking pictures!

Posted by: Eric at July 6, 2007 08:18 PM

I believe they call baby Doves "Squabs."
OK! That's what I've always called them anyway.
I would rather believe that you ARE a photographer and simply don't realize it yet.

Posted by: Clarence at July 7, 2007 05:13 AM

Aww, they are cute! Ps. I was thinking of you and ylb so expect something in the post one of these days hehe. I was going to surprise you but I'm too excited by the fact that I was going to surprise you to keep it a secret :). Hope that made sense hehe.

Posted by: Rach at July 7, 2007 06:24 AM

Oh look, a baby dove!

Posted by: beth at July 7, 2007 07:40 AM

I'm thinking Zack doesn't need to come visit Abbye right now. As high as he can jump, he'd be paying that dove and her babes an eye-to-eye visit.

They are really pretty.

Posted by: Janie at July 7, 2007 11:12 AM

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