Nesting in Safety

We had been away for a couple of weeks, and on arriving home, my husband, Keith, and I noticed a heap of sticks scattered around our back door.

Looking up, we discovered Barbary doves had made a nest on our security lights. They must have been very persistent—to make a nest in this position, they had to span two lights. Their efforts obviously paid off despite losing a heap of nest material in the process. We turned our security lights off, realizing the heat from the bulbs might be hot on the nest.

Each day, we observed the behavior of the parent birds as they took turns sitting on their precious eggs. We often spoke to them, and they were quite unafraid of us as we moved around. The day came when we could just see two tiny heads above the nest and busy parents endeavoring to satisfy their hunger. It is incredible how quickly chicks grow, and before long, they were totally in view, observing our every movement. Knowing they would leave the nest in due time, I found myself praying the cats would not attack them.

One morning, I found them sitting on the ledge by the door and, later, snuggled together on the doormat. We did not have the heart to move them, so we used our front door to get outside. Then the flying lessons began. First one offspring, then the other.

They fluttered and fell while both parents called to them or fed them for encouragement. By the end of the day, they managed to perch on a low bush.

Now my prayers intensified as I could see their exposure to danger.

For a few days, I caught sight of the parent with one of the young, sitting on a trellis in our yard but never with the two together.

Again, I wondered whether they would survive until they were mature enough to be safe. Then, as we were leaving for church a week later, the two offspring flew onto our back porch briefly as if to say, “Thank you for your prayers!” Then they were gone.

Oh, how blessed we were to have had this experience.

“Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2, NIV).

Lyn Welk-Sandy