Birds in New Jersey 2014
21 September 2014 - The new platform feeder and the mourning doves, continued
The mourning dove has learned that eating out of a feeder is pure bliss. So, in it goes.
22 September 2014 - The next day. The new platform feeder and the mourning doves, continued
The next day I don't put out the platform feeder. I hang the regular feeders, which mourning doves never eat from.
Being a deep thinker, the mourning dove lands on the halo above the feeder and has the thought: "Where is the
platform feeder?"
Meanwhile, the adorable little chickadee proves its versatility. It can sip sugar water like a hummingbird...
... and hang from a suet feeder and eat like a woodpecker.
A backyard rose opens.
With its tiny perches and plastic construction, this old feeder is definitely not for mourning doves.
And this mesh feeder is only for perching birds, not for mourning doves. The mourning dove watches the little finches on the feeder.
I've managed to train the mourning doves to not eat off the ground any more. Now they wait on the halos.
And then it happens: a mourning dove decides it can emulate a finch, chickadee and titmouse. It can eat from a mesh feeder, too.
But the perches are very small. It can't land. So it sits atop the feeder and watches the finches.
Not used to such narrow footholds, the mourning dove-that-thinks-it's-a-finch loses its balance several times.
