It was last April. Kathryn’s garden near the patio needed some work, and of course there are all the plants in pots, including the orange tree (which has since been joined by a pomegranate).
Birds visit often — we hang three or four birdfeeders. Cardinals, house finches, the Carolina wren and her family, and a lot of white-winged doves commonly hang around.
Of a sudden a flutter of wings — and there he was:
Where did this dove come from? For a few weeks in the spring, it haunted our yard.
We assumed it was male, but we have no way of knowing for sure. At one point it seemed to make mating advances on some of the white-winged doves — but who knows.
The bird followed Kathryn around. It ignored the feeders farther out in the yard, and concentrated on the feeders on the patio. Then it would land on our patio table and watch.
Sometimes it splashed in the birdbaths.
The bird appeared at ease around people. It would watch us work or play in the back yard.
Difficult to miss — the white was positively glowing. When it flew in, it’s path suggested it came from a house up the alley a ways. Was it a refugee from some cote, an escapee? Or was it a trained bird just out for exercise?
A few times it arrived in the morning, and hung around for an hour or two. Its usual pattern was to arrive in the early evening, grab a few seeds, do a lot of watching, and disappear.
With its color, we feared it would be a target for hawks.
Where it flew to roost, we couldn’t determine.
One day it flew off, and didn’t return.
The mystery dove. Where did it come from, was it tame? Why was it here? Where did it go?
More:
- Pope’s Dove of Peace Attacked by Seagull of Irony (newsfeed.time.com)
- ‘Porch field trip’ yields daylong parade of birds (caller.com)
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
It probably was a release dove bred for weddings and such occasions. I just saw one today. So pretty.
Gail
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now if they were just honest in the rest of their tripe…
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Not directly, that I know of. I have a cousin in Oregon. However, all of the Hatfields are related to each other if you go back far enough. So are the Hadfields and other misspellings. It’s not like the Smiths or Joneses. The name Hatfield is very rare, comparatively speaking. The misspellings are even more rare, since it is really Hatfield. Most of the mistakes happened during immigration.
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Mr. Hatfield, are you related to either of the Senators Hatfield, Oregon or Montana?
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Nice to know they kept their word about it. Thanks for the follow up.
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Amazing. The white bird of peace flying amid wars and rumors of wars. Oh, and Ed, you might be interested in knowing that I cancelled my subscription to Dr. Brownstein after the 90 day trial period. I was refunded every cent within three days of cancellation. So much for the naysayers about Newsmax being shysters. They may capitalize on common holistic medical knowledge (a questionable practice, at best), but at least they are honest when it comes to sticking with an agreement.
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