Dove Story

It's springtime. Time when a young bird's thoughts turn to... other birds.

We had a pair of doves (okay,  pigeons) build a nest on our upstairs balcony. This is a first. As far as well can tell, birds have never nested there before. Our first tip-off was all the, uh, guano on our front porch. Looking up, we saw a pair of birds perched on the upstairs railing. Day after day, there they were.

They accumulated sticks and started building a nest on the balcony. They were right outside an upstairs window, so it was easy to watch them and follow their progress. It seemed like a messy, haphazard nest, but what do we know? Maybe it was their first time.

After awhile, one of the birds -- the female? -- seemed to get fatter. And then she wasn't again. And, lo, there was a tiny little white egg on our porch!

We kept our distance from the window to avoid disturbing our two lovebirds. We could hear them cooing outside the window, and they'd sometimes fly away for an hour or two, probably to find something to eat.

Then the egg wasn't there. The nest was all disturbed, and the birds were gone. It couldn't have hatched after only one or two days, could it? But what else could have happened?

I think we kind of hoped that maybe the birds had just upgraded to a condo across town with better schools, but the reality seemed much grimmer. Lots of other birds are carnivorous, and they need to eat, too.

Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek'd against his creed...

I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,

And gather dust and chaff, and call

To what I feel is lord of all,

And faintly trust the larger hope.  -- Tennyson