The Dove That Came To Tea (And Stayed!)

We seem to have acquired ourselves a pet dove! A very pretty one at that (though she poops a lot!)

She (or he?) arrived on Monday, so she’s been named Monday Snowbell, Monday for short.

Nature Journal

Caroline has been in naturalist heaven since Monday’s arrival. Here’s the excerpt from her nature journal: –

“6.8.18 6:20pm

We were just about to go to the beach and Daddy was doing the washing up, and he said ‘come and see this dove’ but I thought he’d said come and see this dog! So I wasn’t very bothered! But then he said it again and it still sounded like dog, but I went to see anyway and I saw the Dove! We researched it and it turned out to be a Pure White Feather Footed Dove! And we put some seeds out for it. Mummy realised that it needed somewhere to roost so we got out Fidget’s dog cage and we put a cardboard box in on top of an old washing up bowl. And we put Straw on the rest of the floor, and we put a ramekin bowl out with some Nijer and Mixed Seeds and a bowl of water as well. But typically Monday COMPLETELY, and I mean COMPLETELY, ignored the cage! And went up to roost on Daddy’s window sill! And even though Monday’s obviously a tame Dove (because she’s not scared of us) she won’t let us pick her up (so we weren’t able to pick her up and put her in the cage)…”

The Dove From Above

After four days, Monday Snowbell is still here!!!

She’s not very active. She doesn’t do much except fly between the window ledge (at night), the garage roof for food and various roosting spots on the guttering where she moves to catch the sun.

She must be quite lonely as doves are gregarious birds, and she amusingly watches our every move from under one eyelid, as though she’s desperate to be picked up but can’t pluck up the courage to get close enough to us.

Missing? Pure White Feather Footed Dove

I’d never heard of a Pure White Feather Footed Dove. Actually she’s got some dark grey feathers on her back so perhaps she wasn’t white enough for her previous owner?

Professor Google informed us that the large feathers on her feet interfere with normal bird activity, affecting how she moves and making her prone to entanglement in trees etc, so these doves are unable to fend for themselves.

Local Facebook pages have failed to locate an owner and our vet can’t help if we can’t catch her nor without a leg ring code (used by pigeon enthusiasts to identify and track their birds, especially homing pigeons), which she doesn’t have.

Dove Care (no, not the soap)

We’ve asked Caroline’s friend next door to pop some seed out and refresh the water each day as we’re off camping this weekend.

If Monday is still here when we get back I guess we need to buy a dovecote?! And find the lonely old bird a mate.

Here’s an excellent website I discovered on keeping doves, so we’ll know what to do if it comes to adoption.

Do you have any bird adoption tales? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

More Bird Care Links

If you’re wild for garden birds and want more information on wild bird care why not read these articles to learn how to feed garden birds throughout the year and why bread is bad for ducks

Buy Dove Keeping and Bird Spotting Kit

Here are some links for dove keeping kit as well as bird watching and dove care books on Amazon. Click the photos for more information and prices.

Dovecote

Dove Keeping Guide

Cranswick Dove Seed Mix

Wild Bird Seed

Collins British Birds Guide Book

RSPB First Book of Garden Birds

Post-holiday Update – 25th August

After a fortnight away we returned today to find Monday firmly ensconced on our bedroom windowsill! Plus an inordinate amount of poo in our yard.

It turns out two of Caroline’s friends in the neighbourhood were feeding her, so no wonder she’s stayed! What to do now (after de-pooping the windowsills!)?

If you know anyone who can advise whether we should continue feeding her, buy a dovecote or what, please get in touch!

To hear how the story ends read my post about Monday’s month of adventures

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