A few weeks ago, in the late afternoon after very heavy rains and high winds, we found a bedraggled little dove in the garden. It had found a safe enough place to shelter in our back garden, which is enclosed and safe from our dogs and cats.

The little dove, a fledgling, seemed so cold and wet that we thought we should catch it and shelter it indoors overnight, However, it could fly just well enough – a few metres at a time – to escape being caught and so we had to leave it, hoping it would shelter in nearby shrubs and survive the night.

The next morning, we saw it in the garden, still on the ground and looking tired and bedraggled. It moved to perch on a fallen log in a patch of gentle sunlight. Gradually, as it started warming up, it looked slightly perkier and even started preening its damp rather straggly feathers.

We were watching it unobtrusively through a window. Our view of it was slightly obscured by the mesh of the fence of the cats’ catio outside the window. Reassured that it was getting stronger, I got my camera and managed to take some photos despite the impediment of the intervening window pane and fencing.  (These impediments explain the vignette effect applied to these photos.)

The fledgling dove, looking perkier, taking a pause during preening its feathers

Looking up into a tree behind, we noticed another fledgling dove the same age perched quite high up in the tree. It seemed to be the stronger of the two and was preening more energetically.

The second little dove up in the tree, pausing while preening to glance in our direction through the wooden railings of part of the catio

The sun rose higher and as the dove got warmer it even started practicing stretching its wings

The dove on the ground was looking increasingly stronger

We wondered where the parents of the fledglings were and how they had got separated from the youngsters during the storm. It is likely the fledglings had already left their nest before the bad weather hit. Normally after leaving the nest, juvenile doves are still looked after by their parents as the youngsters learn to forage independently and become stronger at flying.

Due to their relatively large size for a dove, we guessed that these birds were red-eyed doves (Streptopelia semitorquata). Typically, red-eyed doves leave the nest about two-and-a-half weeks after hatching. As in these two young birds, the feathers are still soft and fluffy while their adult plumage develops.

As it grew in strength and confidence the fledgling on the ground walked up and down on the log a few times, as if stretching its legs

After a while, like its sibling, it too started experimenting with stretching and flapping its wings – limbering up as the temperature rose

Thinking the birds needed food, I phoned someone who is experienced in wild bird rehabilitation for advice. She said just make ordinary bird seed and drinking water available. When the little birds get hungry enough, they will eat, she reassured me. She also said that the parents would be around and likely would support them. She said the best thing to do if possible is to support fledglings from afar, and definitely not capture them and remove them from their environment as many people, though with the best of intentions, are too inclined to do.

So, creeping slowly outside, my husband went outside and sprinkled birds seed over a fairly wide area on the ground nearby to the doves. We added some raw rolled oats to the mix, in case they needed something softer.

In the meantime, the dove in the tree flew down to join its sibling on the log on the ground

Of course, a few other birds spotted the seeds and started joining the youngsters in the garden. Mainly they were the smaller laughing doves who were joined by a pair of house sparrows. I did not attempt to take any photos of them as I did not want to risk frightening the babies.

Eventually, an adult red-eyed dove arrived. The babies were very excited and approached the adult, with one of them apparently asking to be fed. To our disappointment, the adult appeared to ignore it. Either it was practicing tough love, or it was not one of the parents. However, now and again it did chase off a random laughing dove though in a rather half-hearted fashion.

An adult red-eyed dove. Their diet consists largely of a variety of seeds and they also forage on the ground under trees looking for fallen small fruits/berries

Although in the vicinity of the seed we had provided, the babies started picking up bits and pieces off the ground finding something of interest, but they were not attracted to the food we had put out.

In the late afternoon, the weaker of the two climbed up onto a branch in a shrub and seemed to be preparing to spend the night there. The stronger one flew up into a tree. We wondered if we would see them in the morning.

The next morning there they were, and in time they found a patch of sun to warm up in

We were delighted to see that the babies had survived the night. Both were looking stronger and seemed to enjoy resting and preening in the warmth of the sun. They spent a long time in this patch of sun.

In addition to preening, they seemed to take turns stretching and warming up their wing muscles

Some of the wing stretching got pretty energetic

During the course of the day, we saw that both of the juveniles were able to fly up into the nearby tree, where they perched and did a bit more preening. They were also able to fly down and join the other birds eating the seeds on the ground.

It was endearing to see how the pair kept each other company

In the late afternoon both birds flew up into the nearby tree. When we checked later, they were gone.

We did not see them again, but we felt that at least they had had sufficient time in a safe place to make a recovery from the storm and build up some strength before moving on.

Posted by Carol