Mourning Dove

Some months ago I wrote about starting to put out birdseed so Otis would have something to occupy himself with--lurching and swearing at the birds. We have attracted a huge number of finches, sparrows of various types, and now finally, a pair of mourning doves.

They faithfully show up every morning around 7:00, sit quietly on the fence while the smaller birds fight over the sunflower seeds in the birdfeeder, and the sprinklers scare everyone away. But our doves flutter down onto the back patio and seem to find something of interest, because they peck at various bits of things all across the cement.

These birds are quite large compared to the finches that we see here. And they walk with such a funny head-bobbing gait. The male usually shows up first and coos until his wife joins him on the fence. The whistling of their wings tells me that they're fluttering up and down from the fence, then across the back yard, and maybe then up into a tree nearby. They never squabble with other birds, unlike the crows or jays that frequent the yard. Our finches and sparrows have daily fighting matches over the sunflower seeds. No, our doves just go about their business, doing what they need to do according to the Great Black Bird Book in the sky.

Although these birds are sweet looking and shy, they aren't terribly graceful or bright. My father used to refer to them as "disaster birds" since they take off from the ground at wierd angles and a frantic speed, looking for all the world as though they may careen into a building or tree. Our little pair seems to be stricken with panic without warning, as they pick their way across the patio. But they are soon back, their sweet little brown faces looking at me through the wind

Turtledoves are the other name for these birds. Their loveliness has been written about for centuries in poems and music. Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a lovely choir melody entitled The Turtle Dove:

Fare you well, my dear, I must be gone,

And leave you for a while;

If I roam away I'll come back again,

Though I roam ten thousand miles, my dear,

Though I roam ten thousand miles.

So fair thou art, my bonny lass,

So deep in love am I;

But I never will prove false to the bonny lass I love,

Till the stars fall from the sky, my dear,

Till the stars fall from the sky.

The sea will never run dry, my dear,

Nor the rocks melt with the sun,

But I never will prove false to the bonny lass I love,

Till all these things be done, my dear,

Till all these things be done.

O yonder doth sit that little turtle dove,

He doth sit on yonder high tree,

A-making a moan for the loss of his love,

As I will do for thee, my dear,

As I will do for thee.

It's interesting that in Bible times, a pair of doves could be used for a sacrifice in place of a lamb. There is something innocent and sweet about these peaceful birds that must be like some characteristic of Jesus. So in the mornings when I am reading the Bible and praying, their fluttering wings remind me of the One who was as peaceful and innocent as a dove.