And Then This Monster Came After Us…
Our latest batch of fledgling doves is providing me with all sorts of entertainment of late. Today, the baby doves are sitting under a bush below their nest. Mom is sitting under the eaves, next to the nest, leaning down to watch them. She looks for all the world like she's saying, "Come on kids, you can fly back up!"
The kids, however, appear to be responding with, "Noooo, that's too hard! We don't know how to fly UP!" So they curl up together on the gray rock, beneath a bush.
The kids look sad. Mom looks exasperated.
I don't blame her for leaving for a while. I was pretty sure she was on a date with Dad, because since the kids left the nest, I've seen the two of them together on the rooftops, enjoying some quiet time. The monogamy of mourning doves is strangely comforting.
The kids, however, take little comfort in this. Mom was GONE and they got hungry! Never mind that she thought them how to find food - they were sure she'd come back sooner or later to feed them anyway. Whether they were looking for Mom or for food, they came up with the brilliant idea to go for a walk together. In the street.
I imagine they were thinking, "If we walk into the street, I betcha mom will come back and feed us." But she didn't come back, so I went outside. Walking right up to them, meandering in the street, I loomed above them and told them to go back. "The street is dangerous!" I warned. They went back to the safety of their bush.
My sister laughed when I told her this. "Imagine the story when they get back to mom. ‘...and we walked into the street and this big monster told us to go home.' Mom: ‘Hmmm, monster, eh?' ‘But we pretended we didn't understand because you said not to talk to strangers.'" Ha!
Nope, no anthropomorphizing going on here! None at all.
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