We’ve had a lot of baby doves on the deck this past week. It’s interesting watching the baby birds. Many of them, like doves and Goldfinch, look like exact miniatures of their parents. A few, like Cardinals, have unlovely offspring. Such a beautiful bird, but such awkward youngsters. It’s amazing how beautiful they become as they grow into adulthood.
These slender Mourning Doves are babies. They are still small and quite thin compared to how they will look if they live long enough to fill out. They are a precise match for their parents. Powerful thing, inheritance.
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Categories: #Birds, #Photography, Anecdote, Blackstone Valley
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I love their sweet mournful sound…seems like such a kind gentle bird
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They aren’t aggressive, but they do like to throw their weight around. They don’t attack other birds, but they try to push them out of the feeder. Because they can get quite hefty when full grown, they’re pretty good at pushing. That’s about as aggressive as they get.
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I see mourning doves in the yard from time to time, along with a few cardinals. Despite being here for decades, I have only recently realized how many different types of birds are here. I also have Peter Cottontail and many of his associates. The backyard gets more wildlife than one would think possible in a large city.
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Once you start to pay attention, it’s amazing how much you can see! We had rabbits until we got bobcats. I think our bunnies looked like lunch.
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Once in a while a bobcat or cougar or other lone wolf wanders into town. They try to capture and relocate, although sometimes it does not work out for the large cat or dog. We have racoons, and sometimes a possum will visit. Feral cats keep the mice and rat population at bay. The local forest preserves seem to be over run with deer this year. They don’t make it into this part of town.
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Well, I think this long dry spell is going to finish off a lot of deer. If the rains don’t come back, it’s going to be a very bad year for all living creatures, including people.
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We saw a lot of deer the other day up on the far northwest side. It has been very dry here too and I know animals have been looking for food and water. This was the first years squirrels ate our raspberries, I think they just needed the moisture.
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Do you know what the birds are that look like grey doves and they hang out with sparrows in New York? They’re about twice as big as a sparrow which would make them absolutely tiny as doves go. I’m confused… Saw them in a youtube about an escaped budgie and cannot identify the bird. At first I thought maybe your mourning doves were the species in question but they’re far too big, so I’m as mystified as ever now…
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Sounds like Catbirds. Solid grey, black “cap” on head? They are not exactly dove shaped, but are bigger than sparrows, about the size maybe of robins? Look them up online. There are a lot of bird apps online. But the only (other) gray bird I can think of are catbirds. They would be local in New York.
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So sweet.
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Yes, they are sweet, though they are still babies They get kind of pushy when they grow up.
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You know a lot about birds, their likes and dislikes and personalities.
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If you watch them and you are curious, you find out stuff. I’ve had bird books for years, but having all these pretty birds in my own backyard made me curious, so I got an updated bird book — the one I had was from the 1970s — and started looking them up. I have a great memory for that sort of thing, though I can never remember names and faces of people.
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How lovely. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
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O My!! gorgeous!.
I was just thinking of some birds that I used to see on the farm
– that ever come into the city. The Meadow Lark is one.
Bluebirds another. A shame. I miss them.
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Bluebirds never come into even the suburbs. They need a woods, and we get a lot of them. They also migrate, so they have a definitely season. I’ve never seen a meadow lark around here. They need open fields and we are wooded. Used to see them on Long Island out in the fields early in the morning. I’m pretty sure all the larks need open spaces. Fields.
From “All About Birds (Cornell Univ.):
The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen, unless you spot a male singing from a fence post. This colorful member of the blackbird family flashes a vibrant yellow breast crossed by a distinctive, black, V-shaped band. Look and listen for these stout ground feeders in grasslands, meadows, pastures, and along marsh edges throughout the West and Midwest, where flocks strut and feed on seeds and insects.
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