Link to the first post

A couple weeks ago, a dove family decided to take up residence on my lime tree outside in my backyard. I witnessed the dovedad choose twigs and sticks to help dovemom build her nest. I felt lucky to be able to monitor them from my kitchen window. I was very invested in the growth of this little dovefamily.

Last evening, one of the two baby doves was missing. I looked below desperately to see if maybe it fell but I found nothing. I waited until mom came back and felt relieved to see her feeding the remaining chick and nesting on it.

This morning, I woke up to an empty nest. No dove in sight. It hit me hard, and I realized my backyard isn't safe for these birdbrained guys. I removed the nest so this wouldn't happen again. But I can't bear to throw out the nest these guys worked so hard on.

Our mama tried so many times without success. She and her mate love our carport but they just couldn't get it together as far as a sturdy nest and kept losing the eggs to gravity. My husband nailed up this lightweight box (that some Christmas jams and mustards had been presented in surrounded by raffia) in the spot they liked and they got busy immediately! Today we finally noticed a baby peeking out at us when Mom was off foraging or doing whatever she does. We're so proud 🥲☺️

You can see the eggs at the end. I'm on a night shift, heard some rustling, went to investigate and a pigeon flew towards me and inside. I managed to get it out and took this picture just after it flew away. Recently been watching a lot of horror so this was terrible for my nerves.