We needed to go somewhere last night so I took the dog for a quick walk before we left. When I returned to the yard, I knew we'd be late, as we had a new project - there was this very young mourning dove wandering around in our yard with no parents evident.
Since our neighborhood can be rife with cats looking for trouble, my wife grabbed a spare cage and some gloves, I flushed the little guy out of a bush, and we kept him in the cage indoors for the night, with a soft nest we had saved from some previous occupants in our yard, and some grain and seed and such. The guy appeared to be a fledgling, probably at least 2 weeks old - and could fly short distances yesterday.
Today we decided to see how far he could get on his own. Well, he flew up onto a railing on our deck (as in the picture below), and his next flight was to the peak of our garage roof. Then up into a high maple branch.
Needless to say, we have not retrieved him. He's on his own - and we do hear some cooing around the area, so maybe mom and dad are not too far away.
Since our neighborhood can be rife with cats looking for trouble, my wife grabbed a spare cage and some gloves, I flushed the little guy out of a bush, and we kept him in the cage indoors for the night, with a soft nest we had saved from some previous occupants in our yard, and some grain and seed and such. The guy appeared to be a fledgling, probably at least 2 weeks old - and could fly short distances yesterday.
Today we decided to see how far he could get on his own. Well, he flew up onto a railing on our deck (as in the picture below), and his next flight was to the peak of our garage roof. Then up into a high maple branch.
Needless to say, we have not retrieved him. He's on his own - and we do hear some cooing around the area, so maybe mom and dad are not too far away.
1 comment:
Awww... Be safe little one!
You did a good thing. Now every time you see a Dove you're going to wonder if it's your baby.
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