Mother's Milk

Our combined service today was well attended, despite the heat. Even though I was sad to miss Nick’s first sermon in his Acts series, I was also more than happy to escape the stifling heat in the chapel and get into the diningroom for Sunday School. After church, and the fellowship tea, and all the cleaning up afterward which that entailed, Nick and I sat outside in the back, enjoying the peace of the evening, watching the pigeons eat the left over sandwiches. Our fledgling seems to have finally found its mother, or perhaps a sympathetic auntie, who is feeding it. We saw this happening this morning for the first time. The fledgling sticks its beak right down far into the mothers crop, causing the mother to regurgitate something tasty for the wee’un. It’s oddly disgusting to watch, as they bob about, heads down, the baby bird almost hugging the mother with its wings spread out, beak-to-beak. But we’re glad that the baby is being fed. I did a bit of research on the internet about baby pigeons, and it seems that it’s uncommon to spot baby pigeons – you might have noticed this. The reason is that they stay carefully guarded, in their nests, until they’re actually ready to fend for themselves. I guess this is the case with the majority of birds – you hardly ever see the babies!