Friday, April 23, 2021

It's Baby Season!

 This is a saguaro cactus (on the left) and an Ocotillo Cactus (on the right) that graces the entrance to our driveway.  Ed walked me over to it, pointed, and said, "Look!"  I didn't see what he was referring to so we moved a little closer.



It was only when I got a little closer that I saw what he was trying to point out - a Mourning Dove in its nest.  It's that time of year.  Everyone's having babies!  

We have one nest just above our front door - the dove eyed us warily with a manic eye whenever we'd go in and out.  But she - or he, as we just learned that the males also sit on the eggs and man the nest and because the male and female dove look very similar, it's easy to assume it's only one bird protecting their young - just left the nest last week after her babies were big enough to venture out on their own.  She'll be back.

Wikipedia says, "It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds. It is also a leading gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and for meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure is due to its prolific breeding; in warm areas, one pair may raise up to six broods of two young each in a single year.

We've seen her in the same spot above the door in the past, but the saguaro nest is a new sighting for me.
As I zoomed in, I was able to get a better look at her setup.  In the location above our door, I can't see the nest.  Here, the nest is pretty visible.
In our other saguaro, there's a woodpecker nest, but they make a hole IN the saguaro and wiggle into it, laying their eggs inside.  I cannot see those babies but we can hear them peeping.
Pretty soon we'll be seeing quail babies running around - the quail, unlike the doves who only have two babies per brood, often have twelve to fourteen little chicks running behind them. 

Now they are the cutest things ever!





~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2020: Fanned Out Cables

2019: Three Years Later...

2018: A Spring Moment
2017: In The Heart Of Amish Country
2016: A Spark Of Male Bonding
2015: A-MAZ-ING
2014: Ghosts Of Retail
2013: Orange Is The Devil
2012: Sixteen Hundred Miles Makes All The Difference
2011: In Need Of Some Color
2010: 122 Years And Counting
2009: Sixteen Days Old
2008: Racism Comes With A Convenient Handle
2007: Evening Tide
2006: Glittering Pasties And Swinging Tassles
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!