• cabin fever April 21 - 12:09 pm

Donn de Yampert described taking this shot as "....the photograph of my life" and shared it with us to enjoy. Quite a capture it is! Mourning Doves have a haunting song, somewhat like a moaning, thus the name for this feathered friend. They can be found cooing in the Keweenaw year round. An interesting tidbit of info about the most abundant dove in the United States, is the way they feed their nestlings. The first three days of life, the exclusive food for their chicks is crop milk or "pigeon milk", which is secreted by the crop lining. It's an extremely nutritious food, containing more protein and fat than either cow or human milk. Both the male and female adults regurgitate the crop milk, which is gradually replaced by a diet of seeds. (Enjoying breakfast, are we?)

Thus concludes your Pasty lesson on ornithology for today! :->

MORNIN' from the Harbor

Good morning from Heidelberg Germany. Nice picture, and doves (Tauben auf Deutsch) are also monogomous, to add to the Pasty lesson. Dom.

A pair of mourning doves are greeting first light just outside my window. A lovely way to start the day!

Awww such a cute pair. I can tell the male is on the left and the female on the right. Not long before they have a little nest too I bet. I love the sound that the doves make. So pretty....
Thanks for the nice picture....
Best wishes,
Renee

Ahh the Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, a regnant favorite among bird aficionados indeed. Their tranquil aria soothes many a soul as it serenades atop it's roost. Kudos on the fine shot.

Wheatman

Good Morning Wheatman, nice to hear from you. I have a pair of these in my yard and love listening to them.

I especially like that she (?) is extending her neck. She's got a good face expression too.
I have also posted a photo of a rufous turtle dove on CutOnion.com few days ago. It is not as impressive as today's Donn's shot, but please check it out if interested.

Quite outstanding Donn!! Beautiful picture of two most gracious Mourning Doves.

Donn, Excellent job with the depth of field, especially getting both subjects so well in focus!

I think this definitely qualifies as a "WOW" (and perhaps more than a few screen savers)!

What a great pic!

Their nests are very fragile and primative compared to other nest builders, just a pile of twigs atop a fork in a branch. After examining one, you have to wonder how do they manage to survive.

Nests and survival. Maybe they've succeded BECAUSE their nests are simple. Leaving them with much more time and energy to feed, etc.

Wheatman,
Have been enjoying your monologues for some time; however, you need a grammar book next to your thesaurus...no apostophe in its. Constructive criticism folks, no animosity.

Ahh kudos on promulgating the impasse on the use of context of said word. Must have been clinging to a slumber of the past night, but one may also want to utilize spell check, as "apostophe" is absent from my dictionary.

Wheatman

Great photo!!

(Note: Its and it's are not the same thing. It's is a contraction for "it is" and its is a possesive pronoun meaning "belonging to it." It's raining out= it is raining out. A simple way to remember this rule is the fact that you don't use an apostrophe for the possesives his or hers, so don't do it with its!)

Camera Data:
2/28/04 @ 1521 hours
1/350th second shutter speed
Aperture priority program
F stop- f/5.6
Aperture- f/5.6
ISO speed rating- 100
Focal length- 500.0mm
Lens- Sigma EX 50.0-500.0mm
No flash, no strobe used
Metering mode- center weighted

You may see more of my original work in the Pasty.Com galleries soon...

The skill required to obtain this spectacular photo is obvious, and makes me jealous!!! What a beautiful shot, Donn. Incredibly sharp focus. Thanks for sharing. There's a pair of Mourning Doves who sit on my roof every morning and coo. It's a wonderful way to wake up!

Touche!

Just wanted to add something from yesterday's beautiful photo of the Portage Entry peer and Jaccobsville-- lots of fond memories there. Hi to all my sistahs #1, 2, and 4. Isn't is great to have lived in such a beautiful place?
From Capt'ns dtr #3.

I need a lesson in ornithology;; how can you tell the female from the male? I have a problem with birds that look so much alike, like the doves.
wonderful picture dom,it's a saver.

I agree the sound of a mourning dove is very soothing. I love to go out early in the morning here in South Dakota where all is quiet in our rural setting and listen to their song. Thanks for the great picture.

Donn -
fantastic shot! I too noticed the depth of field puts both birds into focus... something I struggle with all the time.
Kudos!

Love the pics. I had a pair of doves that roosted in my backyard for years. The female had a penchant for cooing with her head placed in the downspout of the house next door. I think she liked the echo-y sound going through the metal....kind of made it sound faw away. She kept this up for about 3 years...then they were gone.

I believe the male has more iridescence on the breast than the female. It's subtle, and not visible in this shot.

Also, the girl lays the eggs. ;~)

Good afternoon to the E.H. Troll!
We have 10-12 of these Mourning Doves in our yard year around. Sometimes they are feeding on the ground under our sunflower seed feeders and other times they are trying to balance themselves on top of those same swinging feeders while attempting to eat out of that feeder! It makes for some comical scenes. About 15 feet from the feeders are a couple of big pine trees that offer roosting places for them while they sun themselves,especially in the winter and also a safe haven to dive into when the hawks fly over the feeders. Their gentle cry is a great sound to wake up to mornings also.

Great photo Donn! Since I will respect Charlie's request that this page stay nice I will personally refrain from the debate regarding the hunting of mourning doves. BUT.. How many pheasants do we see these days?? Not many since they have been overhunted. Especially downstate.
I pray that does not happen to these lovely creatures

Hi Paul,Webberville...I only see a few doves a year up here.I've always enjoyed listening to them and their cousins the pigeons.We still have a bit of winter in the air and on the ground here.Waiting for some of the braver spring flowers to bloom.Tell the folks down that way hi for me.

True story....DNR tried to capture 100 "city pheasants (ringnecks)" as they breed well in the city. They set up a team of men, big tall nets, and beat the bushes to capture these birds so that they could release them into the wild up in the Thumb and rejuvinate hunting. At the end of the day, will all the effort, manpower, and technology, they caught ONE bird. The Thumb may be out of ringnecks, but I see them everyday at the airport............

The cooing of the doves is wonderful to hear, but I enjoy the "chittering" sound they make whenever someone or something comes near and they take off for shelter. I usually have 3 come to eat up the seeds that have been left on the ground, but haven't seen them as yet.

To Geri in Kingford: You can tell which is the male as he has a slightly rosier color breast and a thicker neck. The female is duller and has more of a dainty look.
BTW...I loved the picture ...
Renee

If you missed tuning in the Pasty Cam yesterday, Tuesday's picture turned in to a bit of a brawl. We had some technical difficulties in moving the more contentious thread of discussion to its own page (see cabin fever), and we lost a few postings along the way. Sorry about that.

Very nice photo, Donn.

I applaud your efforts to keep the Pasty Cam a pleasant browsing experience.

Donn, I just love this photo...as I have enjoyed so many of your others. Thanks for sharing them. I was looking for your name on the alphabetical photographer's list and I did not see it anymore. Then I saw it as #1 on page one. I didn't realize that you had photos for sale and that the other pages were gone. Is this a new venture for pasty cam? Commercial albums? Wonder if they will all be listed on the first page? Always something new and different here. Hope to see more of your work as daily wallpapers.

was this site censured some comments are gone

Editor's note: Comments unrelated to the days photo were moved to a subtopic titled: Cabin fever.