Empty Nest

The accompanying picture of the mourning dove and baby was taken yesterday. Today the nest is empty. For the last couple of weeks, I have been keeping an eye on that dove. The nest sits on a cross log under the eaves of my house, easy for me to see each time I go out to the garden (which is several times a day). About a week and a half ago, I could see the little one's head! I marveled at how the mama dove seemed never to leave the nest, but I have since learned that it's the male dove who occupies the nest during the day, while the female takes the night shift. You may recall that doves mate for life. Sounds to me like the rest of us could take a lesson or two from these love-birds.

In most cases, there are two eggs in a dove's nest, which, of course, makes me wonder why there was only one baby. Once a baby is born, it is pushed from the nest at around 10 - 12 days. Which brings us to today.

I was in and out all day, and I recall seeing the baby alone in the nest this morning. At some point in the early afternoon, I was aware of a lot of "woo-OO-oo, hoo, hoo, hoo" going on in the back yard. I walked out on the deck to see the mother (or father) dove flying from tree to tree, seemingly in distress. I looked toward the nest. No baby. I searched my yard in case the baby had fallen, but I found nothing. It is possible that the baby was up in the trees with its parents, but it's also possible that something interfered with this first flight. Predators of doves include hawks, snakes, squirrels, cats, and hunters. I have no cat, and it's not hunting season, but there are plenty of the other predators around, in addition to bears and coyotes and foxes.

I am trying not to think the worst. The mortality rate for first-year doves is 60 - 75%, so maybe my baby bird is okay. There's no point in mourning something that I do not know for sure.

I, too, have an empty nest. Well, empty except for me. My babies flew far away. While one is settled in North Carolina, the other two seem to move around a lot. One is currently in Thailand, soon to move to Colorado, and the other is road-tripping in New England before returning to his home in Colorado. They come back to the nest from time to time, and I enjoy their visits. But I also enjoy their independence, their sense of adventure, and their confidence in exploring the world around them.

When one has lived a long time alone
and listens at morning to mourning doves
sound their kyrie eleison . . . 
one hears them as inner voices,
when one has lived a long time alone.

~ Galway Kinnell