Dolly the Dove

We have a dove that built a nest in the eaves right above our front door. Hubby heard her building it all day a couple Fridays ago, and was wondering what all those scratching noises were. He discovered the nest on Saturday, when he walked out and scared the bejeesus out of her as he peered at his newfound discovery. It makes me chuckle to think of them looking at each other, eye to eye, and backing up (or in her case, flying) in shock.

I have a newfound appreciation for birds, which started when I got myself a hummingbird feeder last spring. It took a couple weeks for any hummers to find the feeder, to my great anxiety. Finally, I added a couple drops of red food coloring in the sugar water, and they discovered it in a jiffy - and have been loyal feeders ever since. They're fairly bold creatures, and let us glimpse them up close by diving for a sip or a longer drink when we're sitting just yards away on the patio furniture, and even sometimes when I'm standing just below the feeder itself.

Our neighborhood seems to have a plethora of winged creatures. I'm not much of a bird expert, but I'm fairly certain that in addition to the hummingbirds and doves, that we also have sparrows, robins, and the blue-feathered ones - I forget what those ones are called, but they really like to torture our dog by sitting on the fence and shouting birdie profanities at him.

So back to the dove. I am assuming that the bird is a female, and it gave me a strange type of satisfaction to know that she chose the eaves in OUR house to build her modest abode. Well, it looks modest from my viewing angle, but it could be quite impressive as far as nests go. So with the assumption that the bird is a "she", I immediately decided to name her Dolly. I check on the nest every time I back my car out of the garage, and sometimes she is there, and sometimes she isn't. Actually, I haven't seen her at all in the last week or so. At first I figured she was out with the gals, maybe on a jaunt for more nest fixin's. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe she realized the error of her ways, what with building a nest practically on top of a garage door that loudly opens and closes several times a day! Or maybe something happened to her?! Since I'm trying not to over-analyze every facet of my life while I'm in the 2WW, perhaps I've been over-doing it with the Operation Dove Watch. I should never have named her...that is the lesson I will walk away with.

Dolly, if you're out there...come home!