Sometimes Mother Nature Is Ugly

When I returned from Chicago last Wednesday night, I couldn't believe how much the latest baby doves grew in four days. Then by Friday, they were standing and starting to flap their wings so I knew it was a matter of time before they flew away.
Saturday morning they were in the nest when I went downstairs to make coffee. By the time, I came back to get some coffee, they were both gone. I have no idea why, but I decided to peek into the nest. I didn't like what I saw. In the nest was a broken egg and a baby bird that had clearly just hatched. "She" was about the size of my thumb, had no feathers and the eyes weren't yet open.

First of all, where did this egg come from? Minutes ago, there were two birds leaving this same nest. I've been watching doves for a couple of years now and I know that the mama bird sits on the eggs for at least a couple of weeks. It didn't seem like there was time for any type of "emergency delivery". Was this an unexpected late third egg from the same Mom? If so, did it hatch or was it broken by one of the other birds. Don't know. I do know that you usually don't see the babies when they first hatch because the mama dove sits on top of them for quite some time. I didn't like the looks of this.

I obsessively watched the nest Saturday. There was a dove that came and took away the broken egg pieces but that was it - never came back again. There was another dove that looked as if she was busy moving in next door to the existing nest - she was no help. I didn't want to intervene too early because if the mama bird was coming back, I certainly didn't want to discourage her. It was excruciating to watch. Finally by late Saturday, I couldn't take it anymore. This bird was abandoned, left behind, alone. Yes I know it's a bird and you can color me dramatic but the metaphor was not lost on me. (Great big shout-out to Mom who totally "got it" without me having to point it out when I told her the story on Sunday. I love you.)

I did some googling to figure out what I could do. Luckily doves are vegetarians so I wouldn't have to mush up any worms. All the pet stores were already closed so I made a "homemade formula" that I found online. I thought if I could get her through the night, I would look for more expert help on Sunday. I used a straw and got her to eat a little. In my extensive 15 minutes of online research, I learned that baby Doves actually stick their beak inside the mama bird's beak to eat - not the other way around. Therefore, the usual syringe trick doesn't work so well with doves. Not like I had a syringe around the house anyway. So I used a straw that she could get her beak into (trying to simulate the mama bird's beak) and I was able to get her to eat a little. A couple of hours later I got her to eat again. I also learned that without their feathers, they need to stay very warm. Luckily it was about 100 degrees during the day. I didn't want to remove her from her nest so I covered her up for the evening.

I checked on her about 6am Sunday morning and she ate quite a bit. She seemed pretty active - and her eyes were still closed. An hour later, when I came downstairs Jon told me that she was in her nest but she was no longer alive. Yeah, I felt awful. I knew this was a possibility from the beginning but she was so active when I fed her earlier I was hopeful. I had already named her "Squirt".

So we left her in the nest and buried her in our garden and also added a bird bath to the garden in her honor. OK, actually Jon bought the bird bath on Saturday but we set it up on Sunday after we buried her. She was the fifth bird hatched in that nest this year. There was already another bird waiting next to this nest - I guess she thought she was next. I swear there is a sign-up sheet somewhere. The new mama bird built another nest next to the original spot and she is now on our patio and hasn't moved since Sunday. I guess we will have another couple of baby birds before long.



P.S. Please do not leave me any comments telling me that I "could have done this", or I "should have done that." I don't watch Animal*Planet, it was Saturday night, I did the best I could and I already feel awful. If you do have some assvice, wait a week and email me.