Hello friends and family. I thought I’d post an update on one of our favorite past times. For several years we’ve been keeping an eye on the Birdcam aimed at the dove nest we have hanging just outside our laundry room door and window. Bruce built this beautiful bird nursery that the doves have used many times. Last year we probably had 5 separate nestings, all successful except one little chick that didn’t make it.

Doves lay two eggs, one day apart. The first egg is left in the nest unattended until the second egg is laid so the babies mature equally. Then the mother dove sits on the eggs from late afternoon to early morning when the father dove relieves her and sits on the eggs during the day. Incubation period is approximately 14-16 days.

April 8 morning – The mother dove and two eggs sit waiting for the father dove to come and take his scheduled daytime duty. These eggs were laid March 29.

This Monday (4/12) at approximately 6:30am – A peek of the first hatchling. This little one didn’t wait to get started feeding. (Video)

We have often wondered what happens to the egg shells after the babies hatch because there is no sign of egg shells anywhere in the nest. That question was answered in the following video when hatchling #2 poked its curious head out of its shell. The parent dove didn’t waste any time cleaning house. This video is a bit longer, slightly over 2 minutes, but it’s worth watching. Pardon the early morning local news radio background noise. (Video)

Aren’t they cute??

This morning, a peek at one baby dove sitting in front of its father. This is a rare sighting of a baby dove only 2 days old. The parents normally sit and protect them until they get too big and/or active. This is a wide angle camera so the photos are just a bit distorted.

Then a photo I took this afternoon of both parents at the nest.

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An update on my mom – I would say she’s as fully recovered as she’s going to be after she fell and broke her hip a week before Christmas. She had a partial hip replacement and spent almost a week in the hospital (covid style – no visitors) and then a little over a month in a skilled nursing facility (we were allowed to visit her there a couple times, outside in the patio). Because she was in skilled nursing, she managed to be among the first in San Diego to get fully vaccinated. She’s been home about two and a half months, has completed all her in-home medical care and she’s doing very well. I get her out to walk around the block (on the flat side of the hill) almost every day which amounts to about a 20 minute walk, and I’m also doing some physical therapy with her which she calls “yoga.”

We had two small family gatherings for her 93rd birthday, April 2 at her house and the next evening we took her to Miguel’s on Shelter Island. We had fun with Jamie & Bobby who flew down from Idaho and Robb & the boys who drove down and surprised her.

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We hadn’t seen Robb and the boys in over a year! Zoom has been great though, as we’re able to talk face to face almost every other Friday.

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Ron and the kids missed the festivities because they had previous plans for Spring Break to go to Catalina Island for half the week where they got to go on a helicopter ride.

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I apologize for the long delay in posting. Even though life has gotten much more simple for me, I am still very busy. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try to be more regular in my posts.

Blogged on Amma’s MacBook Pro, as always, with LOVE …