When the doves first came to my part of this great forest about three years ago, there were eight. They multiplied; most stayed, some went elsewhere, a few fell ill and died, and BigFeet2 was murdered. As the numbers in my forest grew so did the size of the flight that came down at breakfast-time, until this morning for the first time there were twenty-seven. A glorious sea of twenty-seven white bodies, twenty-seven white tails and fifty-four white wings all round me. :-)))
There were, I think, twenty-six for the first time on the 9th of March, but they move about so fast at breakfast-time that they can be very difficult to count, so there may have been only twenty-five. But there were definitely twenty-six on the afternoon of the 14th, and again at breakfast-time yesterday (the 15th).
As I write this at ten o'clock on this Saturday morning, LightFeet, the dove-widow of BigFeet2, is having her after-breakfast snooze on a high shelf above my office desk. RedFeet and VeeLegs were in earlier but they left about half an hour ago. RedFeet is eating like a horse nowadays, but her mate DarkFeet has not been in for some time, so perhaps he's sitting on their nest and she's eating enough for him and a chick or chicks. I've lost count of the number of chicks who've been born this summer in the first and second clutches, but there have been at least seven.
Two days later, on Monday the 18th of March, there was yet another new chick wailing away at breakfast time, and nuzzling my hand as if I were its Mum but not having the least idea what to do with the food in it. So that makes at least twenty-eight and at least eight chicks this season. I wonder if the latest chick is the reason why RedFeet is eating so much.
There were, I think, twenty-six for the first time on the 9th of March, but they move about so fast at breakfast-time that they can be very difficult to count, so there may have been only twenty-five. But there were definitely twenty-six on the afternoon of the 14th, and again at breakfast-time yesterday (the 15th).
As I write this at ten o'clock on this Saturday morning, LightFeet, the dove-widow of BigFeet2, is having her after-breakfast snooze on a high shelf above my office desk. RedFeet and VeeLegs were in earlier but they left about half an hour ago. RedFeet is eating like a horse nowadays, but her mate DarkFeet has not been in for some time, so perhaps he's sitting on their nest and she's eating enough for him and a chick or chicks. I've lost count of the number of chicks who've been born this summer in the first and second clutches, but there have been at least seven.
Two days later, on Monday the 18th of March, there was yet another new chick wailing away at breakfast time, and nuzzling my hand as if I were its Mum but not having the least idea what to do with the food in it. So that makes at least twenty-eight and at least eight chicks this season. I wonder if the latest chick is the reason why RedFeet is eating so much.