I was mowing on Friday, when I noticed something moving slowly–kind of flopping actually–in front of the tractor.  I slowed and stopped.  It was a baby bird.  [No doubt from the dove’s nest in a crab apple tree that’s very close by.]  It didn’t take the baby long to move out of my way.  I drove on past the struggling youngster.  (Fortunately the cut grass exits the deck on the opposite side from baby bird.)

The next pass repeated the above scene.  Baby bird is tiring.  It’s a struggle for the little one.  No feathers and hence no flight.  This may be the first adventure out of the nest.  As I drove past the crab apple tree, mama dove dropped out of the nest doing the cripple bird act, but not very convincingly.

I changed my mowing pattern.  I’d come back 45 minutes later to see if I can complete mowing in that portion of our huge lawn.

When I returned the youngster was not to be seen.  I completed the job and then went inside to retrieve my camera.

Mama dove sat on the nest.

Mama dove is looking at you with her left eye.

The light spot on the side of her head looks like a beak, but it’s not.  You can see it better in this picture.

The crab apple leaves provide excellent cover for mama.

After capturing these images, I left the birds in peace.  They are doves after all.  I had a different agenda and that was to make a glass of cool water disappear.  Mission accomplished. 😀