I love this essay. It brings our real world to the forefront and leaves the human-made mess in the background. And I am always incredibly comforted by the haunting but peaceful call of the mourning dove.
The morning after our wedding in 2019, I stepped out on the front porch to observe a rainbow in the sky. As I readied my phone to snap a picture of it, a dove landed on a tree branch in our yard; it was perfectly placed to capture both the bird and the colorful sky behind it. That photo will forever be my cellphone background!
This essay is beautiful. Exactly what I needed to hear as I listened to myself read it out loud to my husband. I’m waiting for my mourning doves to arrive in my backyard below my bird feeder as well. My backyard birds are my solace.🕊️
Let me run with your metaphor a bit. The scourge of our feeder is the House Sparrows that attack like a rioting mob, flapping and pecking at each other, chasing away the finches and nuthatches and even cardinals, knocking half of the seeds to the ground, where the doves — along with snowbirds, chipmunks, and squirrels scavenge them before they rot or get covered by snow and dirt. Their survival philosophy seems to be “If we can’t have it all, spoil it for everyone else.”
Thanks so much for sharing the example of the mourning dove, beloved @joycestrong. I also offer our Great Egret that visited and spent a long time with us on the day that turned out to be National Bird Day. It is so large, so graceful, and such a shapeshifter. We watched her for a full 30 minutes. She augurs enlightenment, flight at a higher level of awareness. I’m so glad we’re on the same -branch! One Love!
Living in San Diego, we see them pretty much all year, but hear them when Spring arrives. I have videos of them mating on my back wall, and my trees have been graced by their nests and babies. So on this day, when I am feeling sickened by the Ice murder in Minnesota, I am grateful for a brief pause to bring Mourning Doves to mind. Thank you, Joyce, for the creativity and truth of your writing, for togging between news and dire concern and other topics that broaden your offering.
We have several of these lovely creatures who dine at our seed buffet, along with Bluebirds and finches, and of course Max, the squirrel.
I call them ‘Pascal’ because they seem so pensive, as they may sit in one spot for half an hour. Deep birds.
I love this essay. It brings our real world to the forefront and leaves the human-made mess in the background. And I am always incredibly comforted by the haunting but peaceful call of the mourning dove.
Not a *mourning* dove, but a portentous one...
The morning after our wedding in 2019, I stepped out on the front porch to observe a rainbow in the sky. As I readied my phone to snap a picture of it, a dove landed on a tree branch in our yard; it was perfectly placed to capture both the bird and the colorful sky behind it. That photo will forever be my cellphone background!
This essay is beautiful. Exactly what I needed to hear as I listened to myself read it out loud to my husband. I’m waiting for my mourning doves to arrive in my backyard below my bird feeder as well. My backyard birds are my solace.🕊️
Same for me. 💙💪🏻
It's a lovely picture and the message brought to my mind the book ''to kill a mockingbird'', l'm not sure why that is.
Let me run with your metaphor a bit. The scourge of our feeder is the House Sparrows that attack like a rioting mob, flapping and pecking at each other, chasing away the finches and nuthatches and even cardinals, knocking half of the seeds to the ground, where the doves — along with snowbirds, chipmunks, and squirrels scavenge them before they rot or get covered by snow and dirt. Their survival philosophy seems to be “If we can’t have it all, spoil it for everyone else.”
MAGAbirds.
Haha 🤣 same scene here
Thanks so much for sharing the example of the mourning dove, beloved @joycestrong. I also offer our Great Egret that visited and spent a long time with us on the day that turned out to be National Bird Day. It is so large, so graceful, and such a shapeshifter. We watched her for a full 30 minutes. She augurs enlightenment, flight at a higher level of awareness. I’m so glad we’re on the same -branch! One Love!
Living in San Diego, we see them pretty much all year, but hear them when Spring arrives. I have videos of them mating on my back wall, and my trees have been graced by their nests and babies. So on this day, when I am feeling sickened by the Ice murder in Minnesota, I am grateful for a brief pause to bring Mourning Doves to mind. Thank you, Joyce, for the creativity and truth of your writing, for togging between news and dire concern and other topics that broaden your offering.
Thank you Susan. 💙💪🏻🥰
I cannot begin to tell you what reading your lovely essay did for me today. Thank you.
Aww thank you Cassandra 💙💪🏻🥰
Beautiful!