Mourning Dove

[Easterncedar]

6. When I first stayed on a farm in Ohio

I was a teen, and i thought there were owls calling!

40 states have seasons for hunting. The federally set limit is 15 a day. I have an article in my hand (print newspaper!) saying 1 million hunters kill altogether 20 million doves in the US every year.

I used to watch them build their nests in the display yard of the plant nursery I worked at in western NY. We’d put “sold” tags on the shrubs they used, to protect them. We could come quite close to see the dove sitting on her nest (she was brave and didn’t move) and then see hatchlings. They grew fast with both parents working all day to feed them. Lovely creatures.