Doorstep and Friend's Nest

Friend, (mate of Doorstep Dove), and the kids send a big hello.

I'd always wondered where Friend and Doorstep nested but as it wasn't in my yard and the direction appeared to be across the street and down a bit, in in area in which I don't know the neighbors , I didn't feel terribly comfy about rifling through their bushes.

As it turned out, Quicksilver the African Grey, being the conversation starter that he is, started a conversation with a gentleman on the sidewalk who just happened to have a pair of doves that had nested in his back yard for years. Hmmm. Part of the way that I know that a pair is Friend and Doorstep is not only their looks but also their behavior in my yard. (Lets face it Mourning Doves don't have a belly band like Red-tails to give you a leg up in the personal ID department) and I'd never seen their nest behavior. Soooo..... Lots of Mourning Doves in the area but still, worth a shot. When I saw Doorstep out in the feeding area at my place, I trotted over to the neighbors and lay in wait. Okay I didn't actually lay, I sat. The bird on the nest seemed somewhat human habituated. He did glare but he didn't try to stuff the kids under himself and I detected some neck iridescence so male and did have the look of Friend.

Then the female flew in and the male out. She bobbed her head, I bobbed mine and she settled in.

It was Doorstep.

Donegal Browne