Tuesday, December 22
I noticed these mourning doves just before lunch.
Did you know that a group of doves is called a bevy?
Or, according to Wild Birds Unlimited: A group of doves has many collective nouns, including a “bevy”, “cote”, “dole”, “dule”, and “flight” of doves.
An interesting fact about the Mourning Dove is that when they are building a nest the female stays at the nest site and the male bird collects the sticks. He then stands on her back to give her the sticks and she then weaves them into their nest.
Their wings make a musical whishing noise when they fly. The feathers of a Mourning Dove are loosely attached to their skin and serve as a means of escape by easily pulling free when grabbed by a predator.
Later in the day Cerwin captured this beautiful strip of fog in our valley.
He thought it was too pretty to let go uncaptured in a photo, and got my camera. He was going to call me upstairs – from my basement office – but knew I was busy, so took the pictures himself.
Good job, Cerwin!
Looks like he even captured a mourning dove in this one. 🙂
When we lived in Woodland Hills,Ca two doves fell in love, and hatched out eggs in a flower pot on the balcony. I don’t remember what happened to them. Bevy… I did not know that. I must have been using the word wrong for 82 years.
How do you use the word – bevy?
A lovely post — the doves are more interesting than I thought — and I love that nesting behavior. Is it also doves that hide their nests by playing dead somewhere nearby? And the fog is wonderful on the field — how neat that Cerwin took the shots for you!
Thanks. There are several kinds of birds that play dead. I have not heard that about the doves, but that is certainly possible.