Life has got so busy that I am going go hibernate this site :-( I will still keep posting on the RockDoves but over on my personal site http://chrismarshall.vox.com so please pop over there to pick up on the future RockDove life.
Thanks
Really happy to see that Camilla and Pedro have laid another egg. Now that we are only putting a little food out in the mornings they are getting somewhat swamped during the day, which is making it hard to feed them. They get some left out over night, and again about 7 pm so they get enough, but we want to try and keep the other doves away from their new egg.
Stumpy, who only has claws on one leg, has always been pretty tame and eaten out of our hands. Now he is popping down to the balcony to get a special treat from time to time. Will be OK so long as it is only him!
It hasn't been so bad adjusting to not feeding them so much. We are putting food out early in the morning, usually before they have turned up. During the day we are trying to ignore them although that is tough as they are so cute and they still 'hang out' on the roof a lot. There seem to be less of them, and they are getting used to it.
The last couple of days have been really wet and windy though so they have been sheltering on the roof a lot, so we have weakened and given some of them a bit of food from time to time.
In reality we can't make them go away so as long as we aren't seen to be encouraging them, they realise they have to feed themselves, the numbers decline and the mess improves we will be OK.
On the plus side Pedro & Camilla are now coming onto the kitchen several times a day again for their food as it is easier for them and us to feed them that way. This is really nice as it pretty much how it all started.
Unfortunately we have decided that we need to cut back on how much we feed the doves. Primarily because there are so many of them now and we don't want them to become too dependent on us for their food, nor do we want too many of them hanging around.
It is already unfair on the neighbours, and we would like our roof back for the summer and for Moreno. So, we are only putting a little food out in the mornings now, and aim to stop that in due course IF the numbers don't reduce and less hang around on the roof. We still want to keep Pedro and Camilla in the balcony so we are feeding them earlier and later than before i.e. when none of the other doves are around.
It is tough as we both love having them and have got very fond of all of them, some in particular, but we need to do this now. It is upsetting to see them hanging around expecting to be fed, but that just proves that we are doing the right thing.
I don't intend to stop the blog or close the Flickr account as hopefully we will still find a way to have them in our lives, but there will be less activity for a while.
In the meantime Pedro and Camilla have two new squabs, and Tufty has certainly become a character:
Quite a lot has gone on so far this year:
- Gabi and Carlos have started flying and are mixing well.
- Chirra seems to have a new boyfriend
- Pedro and Camilla continue to look after their family
- the rood is still mayhem at feeding time.
With Moreno around it is hard to leave the window open so this is the first set of squabs that haven't been into the kitchen to explore which is a shame.We also don't really see as much of Pedro either for the same reason, but it is still great to wake up to hear him cooing and to feed him, then feed the rest on the roof.
Sands and I are feeding them on New Years Eve, and there are some great close up clips of them eating off our hands.
Probably about 1/2 of the doves feeding here - the other 1/2 are over on a separate eating place. I took some great video footage but that may have to wait until the New Year to get edited
This is Ori's Pot, but every now and again he has to give it up for the others. Looks like a tight fit in there guys?
Eva has grown up into a beautiful young lady!
In the meantime Carlos & Gabie are growing up quickly. It wont be long before they start to fly.
A perfect picture to end the year on. Camilla has just laid another egg, and Pedro is feeding himself before going down to feed Carlos & Gabie. Tomorrow is New Years Day and we will probably have their second egg.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from Pedro and the doves. Thanks for reading my blog, and I hope to see you all again in the New Year.
This was the first year that we have "had" the doves, and they have brought an unbelievable amount of joy and fascination. The sheer fact of been in such close proximity to nature has been truly amazing, and we have managed to get some great pictures.
Flickr has a collection of them (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockdoveworld/) and for those of you with iLife 06 or an RSS reeder you can see all 535 of them at http://photocast.mac.com/chris.marshall/iPhoto/rockdoves/index.rss, or if you look over on our web site (http://www.almerimarlife.com) you will see our favourite pictures on the 2006 in Pictures page.
Pedro has become such a huge part of our life right from day one when he saw off JC Marron and became surrogate father to Blanco and Feli. Blanco left us a while back, but Feli is a daily visitor and will happily eat off our hands still. Pedro has had a prolific year both in terms of ladies (Rubia and Camilla) and children (Jaunmi & Oliver, Chirra & Zizou, JC & Eva, Bruce & Sharon). Along the way two eggs didn't make it and as we end the year he has two new squabs growing up in the nest.
We have "lost" our roof to the doves as not only do they all turn up for breakfast and dinner, but they also hang out in various groups throughout the day. Early in 2007 we are going to lay some new tiles and design some specific areas for their food and water, and build a couple of mini rock gardens for them. Mad? Sure - but they are so sweet and give us so much joy that it is worth it.
Blanco departed to set up his own family, but Feli is a reminder along with Pedo of the early days. Ori (or Hop Along) is around every day which is a great reminder of hwo well Sands did in getting him better. When he first turned up something was wrong with hi slegs so she fed him in one of the cactus pots - to this day it is where he prefers to get his food.
Zizou, Chirra and Feli still eat from our hands on a regular basis and from time to time others join in. It is just funny to watch their habits be it courting, eating, bathing or cleaning themselves. They are REALLY cute.
Of course a "review" of 2006 wouldn't be complete without mentioning those we lost in 2006:
Squeaky wasn't with us for long, and struggled from day one, but she had great character and spirit. She used to "squeak" and flap around madly after her food and always made us smile.
Sharon was with us for even less time, although we did get to see her grow up and start to develop her character. She was a really beautiful dove and it was distressing to see how she died up on the cliff. At least Squeaky died on the roof with his friends around him.
And there were the two eggs of Pedro and Camilla that got abandoned and never made it. They can still be seen in the balcony below, which is a shame.
BUT life goes on and as we close out the year, Pedro and Camilla are feeding their new squabs and preparing a new nest for their next venture into parenthood :-)
We have lost little Sharon (Pieba) :-(
Sands noticed that she hadn't been around for a while which was strange as she was so young, and then she noticed what looked like a dead dove trapped behind some wire netting on the cliff at the back of the apartment.
Yesterday Chris went and had a closer look and it looks very much like poor little Sharon has got trapped and died, and now the Kestrels are pecking away at her. All very sad and distressing as we can't get to her to bury her and little Bruce seems sad and lost without her. It is hard to say how Pedro and Camilla feel as they had already started to encourage them to leave the nest as Camilla is egg sitting again, but it does seem like they are somewhat subdued and Pedro is hanging around the nest more during the day.
I know it is "life" but it is very sad. Hopefully she didn't suffer. I think that is she had got attacked or stuck we would have heard any fight or the other doves crying for help, so it seems that she may just have got stuck and died of shock.
That is now three that we have lost, but she was by far the closest to us having been born in the balcony :-(
Recent Comments
-
Pedro said:
Heh. that is a real shame. Think "we" have been lucky as we have had 2 sets of 2 eggs... read more
on Camilla on new nest -
Grace-Monday said:
I had a pigeon nesting on my fire escape earlier this year and she ended up producing three eggs which... read more
on Camilla on new nest
:-( read more
on Sad News