Another bird in the hand

Our day has been really good. It’s been an excellent stay-at-home-and-get-lots-done kind of public holiday. Nick and I made an early start with some extensive work in the front garden directly after breakfast, while it was still cool and shady. It was a good day to do front-work, because otherwise there is a procession of cars and pedestrians which need to be waved at or greeted. But today the street was pretty empty. While we were busy outside, Nick found a baby dove on the road, along with the mother, who was frantically trying to get the bird to fly back up to its perch from which it had fallen, or flown (I can only imagine it would have tried to fly away at that tender age if the conditions at home were unbearable, which I’m sure they weren’t – so let’s assume it fell). We didn’t think it would be able to fly back up, since it isn’t much of a flier, so Nick picked it up and handed it to me. I took it to the back and tried to get it into a big cardboard box, as we did with Reepicheep, but when I opened my hands it was happy to sit on my fingers, and I could walk around with it. It was probably quite scared, so rather than trying to get away, I suppose it was sitting still and hoping we wouldn’t notice it, but rather like a cancerous growth on one’s face, it was hard to miss. Nick later concocted a very cute nest/perch, made from an old church candle holder, strung up on a hook, so it’s away from any prying cats. We gave it a bit of mashed pear during the day, but other than that, it didn’t eat much. At least we don’t have to source mackerel and other disgusting stuff! We tried sesame seeds and bread crumbs too. Maybe tomorrow it will eat better. It’s a tiny little thing, much smaller than Reepi, with a head about half its size. It has all its adult feathers, but still some downy strands too, and has a compulsion to preen itself. Seems to have some serious dandruff issues. We’ve named it “Mr Twitchyfeather”. We had it out in the back most of the day, and it had a few practice flights. Nearly flew away at one point, but sat on the top of the wall for a long time, giving me chance to retrieve it. We just don’t think it can fly well enough yet to fend for itself. For the night, I’ve settled it on a potted plant in the diningroom. Incidentally, we recorded a temperature of 29.5 degrees Celcius, possibly the hottest that we’ve experienced since being here.