Tale of Three Doves

Joyce D. Lipkis

Special to the Mirror

   My husband, Lee, and I were recently blessed by the arrival of a pregnant dove who moved in and built her nest in a chandelier directly opposite our computer room’s second-story window. After laying her eggs, the dove sat on them patiently for several weeks.

   I kept telling Lee, "Maybe she is having a false pregnancy. It’s taking so long for her eggs to hatch." The mother, however, was much more patient than we who checked her every day, talking to her from our open window all the while, hoping to cajole her into getting on with the birth process.

   We marveled at what seemed miraculous to us -- the first feeding when mother dove and her infants all knew instinctively what to do, without a Dr. Spock or Granny Dove to instruct them. It was a mind-boggling scene.

   Eagerly, we checked our new family’s progress every morning and several times during the day. I felt like a neurotic new grandma worrying that the momma was going to smother her infants or crush them when she was merely keeping them warm under her wings, as any good mother would.

   One morning, we were dismayed to discover that the mother had vanished, but we breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the little ones patiently awaiting her return, obviously confident that she would take good care of them. Sure enough, return she did, bearing in her mouth a supply of twigs for their breakfast. She must have masticated the stuff first so they could swallow it, but no bottle to be warmed nor food supplement was required. This procedure was repeated several times a day. Obviously, the babies were provided for more than adequately as we watched them grow rapidly and adapt to their new world quickly.

   During the week when they were our outside-house guests, changes occurred very fast. At the end of the week, Mom apparently felt it was time for them to go out into the world on their own. When we were not looking, she must have prepared her offspring, teaching them to fly.

   Thus, with great trepidation, we observed her fly down to the courtyard beneath their nest. We watched her little ones watching her. Then one of them flew down, making a couple of short trial flights first, then stopping on the wrought-iron railing in front of the first floor window before finally joining its mom on the pavement. After greeting the little one, making certain that it was all right, she looked up as if to signal the other one to come down, too. Following the same procedure, the other bird also made it down safely and joined the others. Hungry after all that exertion and excitement, they relished the feeding which followed. We do not know what, if anything, they were told by mama dove, but, as far as we know, it was their last supper together as a family.

   Then the mother flew off and tried to teach her progeny how to do the same. Lee and I were bereft when we realized they were not planning on returning to the nest. I hope that the young doves had been told she was leaving, so they wouldn’t feel as abandoned as we did. When we saw them on the ground, we saw how much they’d grown in the one week since their birth, but, in our eyes, they were still very young, too young to be left on their own to make their way in the great big world.

   Later, the little ones seemed to be looking for something (probably mama) in our courtyard. Still later, Lee said he saw their mother, who seemed to be checking to see where they were. Wishful thinking on his part perhaps, but how sad.

   Now, as I look out of our window at the abandoned nest to which none of them ever returned, I feel sad. I miss them. Mainly, I hope the little ones have survived. I can’t help but feeling that the mother dove acted precipitously in forcing her offspring into the world -- a world for which they can’t have been sufficiently prepared. But I guess that is Nature’s way.

   Since that time, when we walk in our neighborhood, every time I see a dove, I wonder if it might be one of ours. My perspective is entirely different. Lee and also have a new awareness of the role of Nature and its marvels. It’s a humbling experience, when we compare human beings to doves in relationship to families and all that signifies.