http://mysoreanmusings.blogspot.in/2014/09/spotted-dove-and-its-eggs.html I had blogged [read above link] about my excitement on being able to watch a Spotted Dove make a nest, lay eggs..... in September last year. The blogpost has the story of September. I'll brief on the two subsequent nesting attempts by the same dove or another one, but it was in exactly the same place, as quickly as in October and again in December. This is a December image. In October, there were also two eggs. I was keeping an eye - but I could, only when I was home - on the nest. Suddenly without a clue, the eggs had disappeared! It remains a mystery. Then again, I was surprised to see the dove making another nest, same spot. There are more images in my blog. There were two chicks that had hatched. They were about 3-4 days old and I was watching them. Did not take pictures as I had already taken the last time [see in blog]. One morning, I saw a dove being eaten and its half eaten carcass in our yard. It may have been the work of a cat the previous day. I went and checked the nest and I could not believe my eyes... the chicks lay dead in the nest. Was the dead dove the parent? I'll never know. Since then, no dove has made its nest in this place. But the doves continue to forage in the yard, drink water from my pond or birdbath and continue to live. How difficult it is for them to survive the odds in Nature!
I enjoyed reading your blog about the doves and seeing your photographs. What a pity the parent birds didn't realise how unsafe that spot was for a nest. I hope that in years to come they will find a spot where predators can't find them Here in Scotland we have doves nests that are robbed of eggs and chicks by weasels, stoats, magpies and other corvids as well as the neighbourhood cats. Neither wonder there are so few fledglings that manage to leave the nest and survive to adulthood.
In the above picture, my two Jasmine plants are seen at the back. Thanks eileen. I think Nature designs the balance of survivors in His own way. We are mere witnesses, in most cases, where we cannot interfere. What we see - the adult birds - are to be termed as 'survivors'. That's how fragile it is. Here is a pic of a Rock Pigeon on top of our 104-year old house. I took this pic from our adjacent house [new one]. There are several of these living in my neighbour's bungalow [now a guest house], also 110 years old. Tiled roof structures are loved by these pigeons.
We have the same birds here Dinu only we call them Rock Doves. Many people overlook them as they are just pigeons to them but I think they're rather attractive.
They are so common and found almost everywhere. Indeed, they are very attractive. They live in large numbers in our workplace which is a huge mansion, also 110 years old - formerly belonged to the Mysore Royal Family. Photos will be in another series. For now, here is one, taken by me in 2007. I'm one of the fortunate few who have been in this mansion for 33 years. There are many other buildings in this 150-acre plot, donated by the Royal Family, for Food Research. In old architecture, these Pigeons find the several cornices most suitable for their nesting and resting.
