A dove story

First nesting. The blooming yellow orchid is on this side of the window.

A few months ago a pair of spotted doves had made a nest in one of the orchid tubs on the grill of my window. They used to visit my little window garden almost every day for a long time and then built the nest almost overnight when we were gone for a long weekend. It was quite successful in that the chicks hatched, the chicks grew and flew off the nest. This was in March 2024. The entire process took about a  month or so. I observed and took photographs of various stages of the process. 

Now they have come back and once again have started the process. This time I want to keep a day by day journal as a citizen science project. Here in Calcutta we call them box grills. They are installed on windows to discourage thieves. They are a foot or so projected outside the window so that you can use the space outside the window. People mostly dry their washed clothes there :-) I keep orchids on that grill with a curtain to cut back on the strong tropical sun. 

14th June 2024 - Day 1 

While opening the window in the morning today to water the plants, I startled the dove sitting on the old nest. I didn't realise it was there. It flew away. It was sitting with its tail touching the window pane. It was in the incubating pose. It has still not laid the eggs but I am more than certain it will do so in a day or so. I moved the tub (in which it had nested last time) a bit away from the window so that it does not touch the pane. It seemed to have cleaned the nest a bit. 

After the chicks flew away last time, it looked terribly dirty with their droppings. I was in fact wondering how they would ever nest here again. But they have. 

Didn't see them for the whole day. But heard. 

15th June 2024 - Day 2 

Evening 8 pm - it was still there on the nest. I think the eggs have already been laid. It is not flying off even when I open the window. I guess the first few hours/days they are so protective that they don't fly off easily.

Here is the note written in the morning. 

Morning ten o clock and it is sitting there again. Today I didn't open the window. Will do so when it goes away, if at all. I can see it from this side of the smoked glass.

Even at 11 am when I went back it was still sitting there. I opened the window thinking it was not there. But it was very much there. And it didn't move at all. I watered the plants. It made its body smaller and ducked its neck down but allowed me to carry on with my job for about a minute.  I am sure it has perhaps already laid the eggs. Or may be it was in the process of laying the eggs at that point of time. I had noticed this courage when the chicks had just hatched. It would just not fly out. Otherwise when it was just sitting on the eggs it would fly out to let me finish my job and then fly back again after I would be gone.

I am using the pronoun "it" because I am not sure if it is the mother or the father. If the egg laying process is on then it could only be the mother. The previous pair had one of the birds with a hooked bill. Possibly the female. This one that I saw this morning seemed much smaller and with a normal bill. Is it possible that the front of the bill had broken in the meantime and grew back normally? Not sure.

I am curious to know if the same old pair came back or it is the chicks that have now paired up. Do they get ready for parenthood so early in life ? Shuvankar-da thinks it is the same old pair and if the nest stays good they will repeatedly come and raise their chicks.

Note the crooked bill. This used to sit on the eggs in the day time. 

16th June 2024 - Day 3

Morning 10 am. I opened the window and watered the plants. The bird is sitting still in the nest. Last time when I would open the window the bird would fly off and sit on the branch of the mango tree behind and later come back. Of course towards the later stage it became more tolerant. This time it's just not budging. In fact I have not even actually seen the eggs so far.  This behaviour of absolutely not budging I saw when the chicks had just hatched. The parent would just not move, leaving the chicks exposed. 

I noticed the bill of the bird closely. It is straight. Also this bird is quite smaller than the previous ones. 

Afternoon 3 pm - at around 2 pm I decided to grease the rails of my window. These are aluminium sliding windows and they make a lot of squealing noise. Now that I am frequently opening and shutting the window I thought I would grease them to make it easier for the birds. I am sure they hate that noise as much as I do. So I greased the rails thoroughly. The bird didn't budge at all. 

I left the window open and went away. After some time at around 2:40 I noticed the nest was empty and there were those two jewels of white eggs sitting pretty there. I was so happy to see them. As if I have had two grand children. Just as I was preparing to bring the camera for a shot of the eggs I saw the other dove come in to sit. It is obviously the male. It's a little larger than the one I saw earlier in the day. And its bill is also straight. I photographed it. 

So the eggs are there and I can quite differentiate between the mom and dad. Mom is visibly smaller. Will keep observing every day. 

17th June 2024 - Day 4

12 noon. I just checked the nest while watering the plant. Moma dove is sitting. She didn't fly off and allowed me to water the plants from close proximity, as usual. In fact I have to extend my hand over its body and head to water one of the plants. She is fine with that. Just ducks a bit. 

I am more than convinced that this is a new pair and possibly the ones that had hatched in March. One of the birds from that lot looked visibly smaller from day one of hatching. That looks like is the new mother now. 

18th June 2024 - Day 5

No change in status. I watered the plants at 9.30 am. She was sitting there. Didn't fly out.