Our Overnight Guest

The snowstorm blew in late yesterday afternoon bringing lots of snow and bitter temperatures. We've been so spoiled by mild weather this season that I think perhaps even the wildlife was not quite prepared for the sudden change.

It was probably about ten o'clock when I opened the backdoor to let the dogs out for their nighttime potty break. To my surprise, a mourning dove had been huddled down by the woodpile. Startled, it fluttered up to the porch ceiling and flapped about until finding a resting spot in my wisteria vine. It sat on a thin branch and stared at me, not daring to fly off into the bitterly cold and windy darkness, yet not quite trusting me either. There wasn't much I could do, so I took a picture instead. :)

I felt bad for the poor bird who was obviously cold, fright- ened, and dis- oriented, but I really had no idea how to help it. The dogs finished their business, hurried back into the warmth of the house, and I came inside too. The bird, quite certain there was at least a bit of safety on the back porch, flapped about until it finally came to rest just outside my door. It sat on the top step and stared at me some more.

If it were possible to read the mind of a small bird, I would have said this one was begging to come inside the house. Of course that was next to impossible so when the porch light went out, I turned my camera off and left it in the dark. Lucky for the bird, my husband does not give up quite as easily as me. "Don't you have a cage?" he asked.

There was a very nice cardboard box under the table instead, so he took that and a piece of cardboard to scoop it into the box with and stepped outside. I was surprised when he came back moments later with one very tired mourning dove inside the box. There was no flapping about, no noise inside, just a very tired and quiet bird. This morning though, there was a bit of flapping, and when he took the box outside and opened it, our little guest was happy to fly off. Makes me smile. :)