The chicks are thriving! Since my initial post about them  https://circadianreflections.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/the-mournful-oowoo-woo-woo-woo-of-my-squatters they’ve grown a lot. March 14, 2011- Mama in protective mode. She usually sits tall in the nest but, whenever I get too close she signals them to be still and quite and like good chicks they do it.

March 13 2011- The chicks are starting to be more active in the nest. Fluffing their wings and walking around a little, but I have to shoot that from a distance so they don’t get into protective mode and hunker down. This is all I can see from my vantage point at the sliding glass door.

Compound this far vantage point with them being under the cover of the patio and it was windy and rainy. The basket was moving quite a bit. Notice the motion blur on the tail. I raised the ISO to get my shutter speed up, not enough I’m afraid. I didn’t want to introduce too much noise. Between the family moving the basket, and the wind moving it has been a challenge  photographing them.

March 13, 2011- Here is the only time so far, I’ve been able to see the female feeding the chicks. It was windy, and had been raining on and off all day. Here the female is getting ready to feed her chicks “crop-milk”.  I’ve got motion blur on the females head. She’s bringing up the milk.

I’ve done a bit of research since these have come into my life about what to expect until they leave the nest. Mourning Doves don’t regurgitate worms to feed their young. They are vegetarian and  have a special pouch that their food goes into where it is turned  into a very rich, nutritious milk.  It contains more protein than cows milk. The chicks stick their head/beaks into the parents mouth and drink the milk. Another interesting fact both the male and female have this extra large crop and produce the milk. The chicks grow very quickly due to this rich milk.

March 16, 2011- Look how much they’ve grown since I first discovered them! They are nearly twice as big, and their feathers are much softer and more filled out. Addendum: They are born blind and naked!

The sitting parent( I think the female)  has been leaving the nest more often, and the male has been coming around. Both the male and female spent more than an hour on the fence away from the nest this morning. The chicks leave the nest at just 14 days old. I found these two 6 days ago, and I don’t know how old they were. They might be here another 6 -7 days.

All photos Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved