Very Nice Shot. I love it. I used to raise Pidgeons when I was a boy. I loved watching the whole process - from mating to egg laying and the first flight (out of the nest). Pidgeons and Doves are rather similar in their breeding/nesting habits. Couples mate for life, both sit their eggs and both feed fledglings (a regurgitated milk-like substance). They look like they are kissing with their beaks interlocked, but they are actually feeding.
When one of my hens would lay an egg I would start counting down the days until hatching - 18 days, I still remember. Ooohhh... what color will they be, what sex - it was all so exciting. 6 weeks in the nest anf "out you go". The birds actually build small nests on purpose (or instinctually anyway). This is to insure that about the 5-6 weeks period, there is "no longer any room in the nest" and helps to get them "out on time". And if the crowdings not enough, the hen will begin laying new eggs (as Pidgeons breed year round) even before they take their leap. Then she pushes them around and out of the way because she wants to start brooding all over.
Did you get to see the whole fledgling cycle. From the naked little giant headed newbies to the spike covered quills. I always loved the spiked quills stage - just before the feathers opened.
Anyways... I have a rabbit ) cottontail nesting on our hillside behind the house. I will have to take pics and show online sometime.
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Great shot!
Originally Posted by BOBS DAD
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