Bothersome!

   While mourning doves are known to make the most slipshod nest of all birds, they still seem to manage pretty well.  How the mother bird keeps her eggs in the nest is beyond me.  If you ever see a nest that is nothing more than a few twigs haphazardly crisscrossed between branches, you will know you have found a dove's nest.  Then, to think she will only lay two eggs to a clutch, it makes you wonder how these are some of the most common of birds nationwide.  Oh, and we must not forget that they are a popular game bird for hunters.  It is amazing that there are so many of the birds still around.

  The yard is home to perhaps two dozen doves.  They nest wherever there is a vacant space such as the grape arbor, hanging plants or any available tree.  One pair has even nested under the jasmine vines.  (I do fret over her nest as there is a feral cat on the loose and it is not beyond raiding the nests.)  Since I have been feeding the birds, the doves have become especially tame.  I have literally come close to stepping on them since they are ground feeders.  

  This tameness, while heartwarming to me, could be the birds' undoing.  Not everything has their best interest in mind.  The young hawk has been on the fly lately so the feeding will most likely have to come to a halt again unless I can find a more secure method.  It is bothersome to know that I am just fattening the doves for the dining pleasure of the hawk.