A little miracle of sorts is happening in my room right now. A pair of spotted doves has made a nest in one of the orchid tubs that I have on my window grill. They laid two eggs when we had gone on a short vacation to McCluskygunj. That was on Sunday, the 3rd of March 2024. The chicks hatched yesterday, that is on Wednesday 20th March, 2024. Which means a total of 18 days' incubation period.
Right now the chicks are two days old. The parents are still sitting over them round the clock. I saw the chicks being active outside the mother's (it could be the father also - doves cannot be sexed apart) breast in the afternoon for a short while. Both are alive and kicking.
Yesterday in the afternoon, when I saw the chicks for the first time (I think the parents were changing their shifts and the nest was unsupervised) I thought one of them was perhaps dead. But today I felt reassured to find both of them active. Just a woolen ball though with nothing discernible in the form of eyes or bill.
I will note down my observations here.
The pair was visiting my window box for a few weeks now. Tthe grill is outside the window opening and in the shape of a box where I have a few tubs with orchids. I have recently also placed a thin cloth to give the plants shade against the sun. From their visits - they were targetting a particular tub - I could make out they were planning to set up the nest. Doves are known to make their nest like this and tubs with growing plants is their favourite place. Being orchid tubs it has charcoals and broken pieces of red bricks.
The eggs were laid when we were gone. When I started observing them I found they sit still round the clock over the eggs. Extremely patiently. Not even a wink. If I stand close they look at me with caution in their eye, regardless of the time of the day. They allow me to water the plants on this side of the window without getting alarmed. When I try to water the plants on their side of the window they would fly quietly to the mango tree nearby.
The parents apparently take turns to sit on the eggs. The male in the morning and the female in the night. I have not been able to see this shift change. But I can distinguish between the individuals, though I cannot sex them apart. One has a slightly curved bill (it's a deformity) while the other has a normal bill.
During the day the curved bill fellow sits.
I left some wheat grains on a plate in front of the nest so that they could feed on it. They have not even touched it so far in the last few days.
Yesterday while watering the plants I found the parent was super bold. It did not fly out even when I entered my hand on the other side of the window. I watered the plants carefully. It didn't budge. First I thought I had gained enough of their confidence for this. Later it struck me that probably the chicks had already hatched and the parent didn't want to leave them unprotected.
I later found a broken egg shell lying on the next tub. Later I thought the chicks were possibly born. I think I saw one of them coming out from under the parent's breast. I saw them for sure only when I found the nest without any parent for a very short time. I took their photograph. Nothing much is discernible. Just a fluffy ball of cotton wool.
Today I saw them being active outside the parent's breast but soon enough they were inside. I am told they will remain like this for about four to five days. After that they will be grown up enough not to need any of the parents. Finally they will fly the nest in two weeks or so.
I am worried about crows. I just hope they make it safely into flight mode and be on their own.
I am told if they succeed with these chicks, they will come back soon enough to raise another pair of chicks. Let me see how it goes.
