Unsuccessful (087/365)

TIME: 6:55 PM
PLACE: Front porch
SUBJECT: Broken egg

Mama dove is no longer here – one egg disappeared from the nest last week (probably squirrels), and we found the shell of the other laying by the nest today.

Poor mama.

Hi There Momma (072/365)

TIME: 6:26 PM
PLACE: Front porch
SUBJECT: Mourning dove

Here is Momma Dove, sitting on her eggs.

She has gotten to the point where she will not fly away when we go in and out of the front door.

She even let’s place some birdseed on the shelf for her.

But we still can’t get too close; her comfort zone is about a 2-3 foot distance.

Now There Are 2 (067/365)

TIME: 5:27 PM
PLACE: Front porch
SUBJECT: Dove eggs

She laid another egg…

Egg Clutch (063/365)

TIME: 9:08 AM
PLACE: Front Porch
SUBJECT: Dove egg

A mourning dove has made her nest on a shelf of the wooden hutch I have on my front porch.

Last Year’s Nest (065/365)

“There are no birds in last year's nest.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (American, Poet,1807-1882)

TIME:  4:02 PM
PLACE: Work
SUBJECT: Bird’s nest

How much longer before the birds start to nest?
I am so ready for spring.

Triplets

TIME:  12:55 PM
PLACE:  Effinger’s Garden Center
SUBJECT:  Baby robins

A robin built a nest smack dab in the middle of the annuals of our local garden center.

I was dive-bombed by Mama Robin while taking this photo.

Nesting (160/365)

TIME:  9:06 AM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Dove in nest

Robins originally built this nest in our Purple Sand Cherry.  Those babies have grown and flown the coop.  A mourning dove has decided that the abandoned nest will make a great place for its future squabs.

The Future Is Here (181/365)

“Who'll be chief mourner?
I, said the dove,
I'll mourn for my love,
I'll be chief mourner.”

Mother Goose (fl. 17th-18th century. Who killed Cock Robin? (L. 33-36). . . Oxford Book of Light Verse, The. W. H. Auden, ed. (1938) Oxford University Press.

TIME:  7:47 PM yesterday
PLACE:  Dad’s front porch
SUBJECT:  Mourning dove baby

I had every intention of taking photos at MonkeyBoy’s last ball game, but I didn’t.  Depending how you look at it, I am either a bad mother for not taking any photos or a good mother because I was too busy watching the game to do so.  I’m going with the good mother reason. ~*~*~ This is the same nest that was in my June 18th post.  Sadly, it looks like only one out of the two eggs hatched.

Tiny Futures (169/365)

“The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.”

Zora Neale Hurston (American folklorist and Writer, 1903-1960)

TIME:  5:58 PM
PLACE:  Dad’s front porch
SUBJECT:  Dove eggs in a nest

We woke up this morning to tornado sirens at 6:30am – *grumble* I had not slept well all night and was not happy about having to get out of bed and go downstairs.  Luckily, we survived the storm without incident.  Later the sun came out and DQ was still able to go to Six Flags with her friends.  We finally had MB’s birthday party at my Dad’s house this evening.  While the HH was off getting the pizzas (MB’s dinner choice), Dad showed me where a dove was nesting in his hanging impatiens.  Because I am nosey, I went to get a closer look and ended up scaring the bird out of it’s nest (I really didn’t mean to do that)…but it allowed Dad to water the plant (only around the sides, away from the nest) and I was able to snap a quick shot of her two eggs.

An Empty Nest (320/365)

“An empty nest! It used to bear
A happy burden, when the breeze
Of summer rocked it, and a pair
Of merry tattlers told the trees
What treasures they had hidden there.”

James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916 / Indiana / United States) “An Empty Nest.” lines 11-15.

TIME:  4:26 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Bird nest

Our Purple Sand Cherry shrub has shed all of its leaves and revealed two bird’s nests tucked away in its branches.  I knew there was one nest in it (I had taken a picture of the baby birds earlier in the spring), but didn’t realize that there was a second one as well.
~*~*~
In other news, MonkeyBoy’s basketball team tied 23 to 23 in overtime (In grade school, if they are tied at the end of the game, they play one overtime.  If tied at the end of overtime, then a tie is recorded for that game).  And guess who made the shot that got our team from 21 to 23 points? It was my boy…He made the basket as time ran out.  Go MB!!!

Full Nest (170/365)

 
“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”

John Burroughs (American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement, 1837–1921)

TIME:  2:14 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Baby robins in nest

I am all giddy with excitement…I got them!  Momma and poppa robin were not pleased with me at all.  Now that I have the picture, I won’t be bothering them again.

Nesting (226/365)

 
God gives every bird his worm, but He does not throw it into the nest.

P.D. (Phyllis Dorothy) James (b. 1920), British mystery writer. Jonah the tramp, in Devices and Desires, ch. 40 (1989). Quoting a wayside pulpit.

TIME:  10:00 PM
PLACE:  My desk
SUBJECT:  Bird in a nest

This little bird and its nest hitched a ride with the roses HandsomeHusband sent me for our 1st date anniversary (20 years) back on July 28th.  Our florist places these little birds sitting in their moss nests in her bouquets as her signature.  After the roses faded, I plucked the bird out of the arrangement and stuck it in a pencil holder that sits on my desk – I’m sentimental that way.  I spent a lot of time sitting at my desk today, attempting to uncover it under the layers of papers, receipts, magazines and books.  I think I may have found it!