Just some cooings on.

Time for catch-up again. Still decapitating those ivy vines. Just can't do it all the time. I wait for when its not so hot and humid. But none the less they're almost pretty much out on the front. Found lots of empty snail shells for my collection in the processes. They come in handy for projects. Such as wreaths and a certain broach I made for my self. Still tackling other things too. Been a pretty busy summer. And oh yeah we might actually get some peaches this year. So far the squirrels have been keeping away. Another story when it comes to the night creatures.

Anyways here are some pics of some of my doves took two years ago just before I put them out for the season in their outdoor cage. I managed to take a few nice ones of my "rare in my household" a young dappled ring neck dove. She had a brother who looked just like her but as I said before her brother got spagetified by a hawk before we reinforced the cages to keep out the rodents and you guessed it hawks. Oh and I even got a rare pic of a dove just about to take off the covered car in our garage. Rare considering my camera is pretty old and its only a point n shoot camera. Not to mention a Kodak camera. I wonder if someday it might become a collectable? 

Oh they look a bit poopy considering when inside their winter quarters its a bit cramped for the night. But they have the whole garage to do what they please during the day. Such as bathing, foraging, playing and of course flying. 😊
 

Cooing from the gang

Finally got a nice pic of one of my doves flying in the garage. OK its not perfect but maybe next time I'll get an actual face showing. “They're kind of shy any how” Its kind of hard using an ancient digital camera for the task, for a movement that quick. Oh well maybe next year.

The pics were taken before they went out to stay in their summer incloser so it was right around the time where the doves started to molt their feathers. They were looking rather ratty. 

 My youngest male all grown up.

I caught one flying. Look at the pic below. 

  A secret space for male members only.

The Peck and Yank dove toy.

Introducing a new toy just for doves.
The Peck and Yank dove toy. The toy for doves.
I needed something new for my doves to explore but store wise  there isn’t much of an option for doves or rather nothing at all. I guess doves and pigeons are seen as dumb birds nothing more then good for a prop in a magicians magic trick. But if a bird can have the intelligence to understand a trainers command, then they do have some smarts. In fact doves are just as inquisitive and curious like any other animal. Maybe not like a parrot but the dove does use its intelligence in its own way. I designed the toy for the doves natural way of exploring the world, the love of pecking at interesting objects, the need for some things  and testing other things.  I have things it can pull, jingle and peck at interesting colorful dots.  I avoided large areas of bright colour since this would be threatening to the doves.

Here is my youngest dove enjoying the act of exploring the new object. He was the first to try out the toy followed by the rest of the flock. I have a lot of doves. ;)

If you would like to make one your self for your doves and or possibly pigeons, the instructions are available at Instructables.com Eventually the instructions will be available at my web site as well but the hobby part of that web site is currently under renovation.  Till then you know where to get it. ;)

Belated Meetso

   I was going to share these earlier but with all the craziness of stuff to do it just wasn’t possible. Now its just another type of craziness and catching up to do. So far I managed to get some clip art done, some spring cleaning but more to be done, gone out, checked countless emails, planted seeds, planted plants. 

  Still have to post a few posts in my blogs which I'm currently doing, finish some unfinished personal projects, work on other personal projects so I can have some new things in my portfolios, freshen up my web site since its looking a bit dated, make more clip art before the next paying project, make some jam and probably other things if I get the chance. Yup my plate is full. 

   Anyways these pics of Meetso were taken last fall. Meetso was in a real playful mood so I thought I catch some of his funny antics mostly playing among the blue wisteria. 

                                    

Batting some ribbon among the blue wisteria.^

 Meetso spots a morning dove near the water fall for the small koi pond. ^

 Meetso sniffing around for mice. Such a poser. ^

 Meetso looking down at the world. My favorite pic. I just love the colours and the pose. ^

 Looking all cute. ^

 Play with me, if you dare!.........^

 NahNah!......^

 Pekaboooooo!........^

  Last night he caught his forth bunny. Bad kitty! Although I admire his excellent hunting skills and it’s a great use for catching pests such as mice, squirrels and rats I would really love it if he leave the bunnies alone. Btw I usually catch those bunnies and let them go in a neighbors yard near a park when Meetso is not looking.

Time for a catch up and pic posting!

Playing catch up again.  Thought I post these up already. Its of the new baby doves that hatched during early summer. June that is. One is a male peach colourd, the other is a speckled with white female.
Sadly the female died recently after the holidays of the dreaded egg binding. I discovered the problem too late to really save it.  I tried cracking the egg and she seemed to improve for a while but the stress and probably the bacteria got to her.  Had I discovered the problem early on I would have saved her like I did with another female in the same situation.  The new male is happily wooing the females especially my one handicapped dove who can’t really walk but can fly just fine. He is always bringing her gifts of twigs for her favorite hanging nest, cooing and nuzzling her with affection. Its so cute.

My oldest dove who is about 30 years old is showing signs of sore joints mostly in winter. Going to have to figure out what natural thing I can feed him to make him more comfortable.

Going back to the pics, these were taken in June in their outdoor summer cage.
Enjoy!

Female in the background while the male is in the front.

Looks like one of the female doves has joined the nest party.

One of my male doves decided that a potted spider plant makes a great nest.
I might have given him the idea for that since that's where I threw in the old eggs.
I replaced those and gave him some fake ones.
I usually make the fake ones out of clay but these ones are made out of some small Easter eggs.