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Monday, March 25, 2002

Nesting Doves. the mourning doves

Nesting Doves. the mourning doves we see so often in our backyard have set up house. yesterday darin and i were standing in the driveway discussing whether the board fence between our drive and the neighbors needs to be replaced (it's getting shaky in spots) and we saw one of the doves perched atop the fence. the neighbors have some kind of rambling, flowering thing growing on their side and it arches up over the fence - i keep forgetting to ask them what it is. so the nest and birds are well-concealed unless you know where to look. and the nesting bird sits almost perfectly motionless, staring at you, daring you to get within pecking range (or that's how it seems to me). so any fence repairs will have to wait.

here's some interesting info on mourning doves - i'm not sure i can tell the difference between the male and female birds.

Imposter Tree. one of those leafing trees is not a crepe myrtle. it is about three inches behind one of the smaller crepe myrtles and the imposter's trunk is the same diameter as the trunks of the "real" tree, which has multiple trunks, hence the confusion. however, upon closer examination, it is not, in fact, another trunk of the crepe myrtle. the bark is decidedly different and the leaves don't match those of the known crepe myrtles. darin has removed the offending tree since we have no idea how large it will become and it would just crowd the desired crepe myrtle.

Leaf Hog. i've been wanting one of these since last fall. we compost all of our yard debris, but it's soooo slllloooowww. it doesn't help that we have several oak and pine trees that seem to do nothing but shed leaves/needles/cones. so this nifty thing not only sucks the leaves/needles/cones up, but also chops them for faster composting. wheee! i went to our friendly neighborhood home improvement center yesterday afternoon and bought one; then i spent all afternoon being productive with my new gadget.

Coleus. somehow i can't seem to go into the home improvement center and buy only what i went in for. yesterday it was the coleus - they looked so cheerful, and the front bed has so much empty space. so i bought 12 three-inch tall plants ($1.38 / 6 plants). after planting them, i mulched around them with mulch from my nifty new gadget.

Tulips. darin's tulips continue to surprise me. in the process of cleaning up the front bed to plant the coleus i kept "discovering" more tulips. eight are putting out nice greenery (i don't know whether they'll bloom, it seems too late), and several may yet do something. i did ask him to mark his next gardening efforts with sticks to prevent them from being "lost".

Posted by Erica Bess Duncan | Permalink

Comments

I have a dove nesting in a hanging plant on my outside open porch. She's nesting in the plant. I need information because I don't want the plant to die, but hesitate about watering it because I don't want to do anything to disturb her nesting.
Can you give me any information as to what I should do? I approached my plant to water it not knowing she was in there and she scared me because she flapped her wings and flew away. She was close to my face then, and I consider myself lucky. She returned later and I would like her to stay. I try to coo at her from a distance and she seems to trust me, in the sense that she did return and seems comfortable with the planter that she chose.
Any help you can give me would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Gloria

Posted by: Gloria | Mar 27, 2004 6:47:35 PM

WEll my doves all left the nest. I miss them, they were so interesting to watch.I hear they return the following year to the same nest. Since I am pretty well up in years I hope to be here for any return of these devoted birds.They are partners for life. How wonderful.

Gloria

Posted by: Gloria | May 31, 2004 8:42:54 AM

A dove has been nesting in a tree beside my house in my neighbour's yard. over the past weekend they cut some branches from the tree .Today when I came home I noticed that the nest was empty except for two eggs ( mom has left) why would they abandon the eggs and how long can they be left before they are no longer viable? could I possibly bring the eggs inside and hatch them under a light?

Linda, lover of wildlife.

Posted by: Linda | Apr 13, 2006 12:39:41 AM

I have a dove nesting in the bracket of my satelite dish on the side of my house it is amazing to watch she has been sitting on the eggs for over two weeks will they soon hatch?

Posted by: hazel bailey | Jul 13, 2007 10:43:09 AM

I have a dove nesting in the bracket of my satelite dish on the side of my house it is amazing to watch she has been sitting on the eggs for over two weeks will they soon hatch?

Posted by: hazel bailey | Jul 13, 2007 10:43:38 AM