Nesting

About a month ago, we noticed that a pair of doves were camping out on one of the brick pillars of our front porch. Chris wanted to make sure they didn't build a nest and make a mess of our porch. I secrectly hoped he would forget, then lose the nerve to disrupt them if they did.

They did end up building their nest, and Chris left them alone.

Soon after, the kids and I went out to sit on the porch. The mama bird immediately flew from the nest and tried to distract us from the nest by flapping on the telepone wire and performing all sorts of aviator stunts. I didn't want to stress her out, so herded the kids back inside. Thankfully, she's gotten used to us, and doesn't feel that we are a threat, even when I tried to get in her face to snap a photo.

Until yesterday, I hadn't seen her leave the nest since that first stressful encounter. I was watching her as I sat on the couch and read, wondering when she slept. (Her eyes are always open, and seemingly watching us through the windows.) All of a sudden, she flew off, presumably to get something to eat, and I had my chance to see if there were actually any eggs in the nest. I stood up on the couch to try to see, and sure enough, I caught a glimpse of something white among the twigs. I'm not sure if there is only one egg, or if there are more, but I didn't want to freak mama out by poking around near her nest when she felt it was safe enough to leave it for a second.

I have to admit, I am a little jealous of her. In spite of her watchfulness, she is allowed to sit still nearly all day long and simply wait for her little one(s) to hatch. There are so many things on my before-the-baby comes 'to do' list and my 'want to do' list... but generally by the time I get a moment, I check my energy level, and it is running close to empty. Oh well. The thick layer of dust on the bathroom light will just have to wait.