Grey skies and temps that barely reach forty before noon make it easy to doubt, but spring really is on the way. Yesterday we got to witness a couple of doves having it off on a willow branch about five feet beyond our kitchen window. I watched them closely for a while but not out of prurient interest. It wasn't the actual copulation that was interesting (it lasted for seconds on the few occasions it happened), but the courtship ritual. They faced each other and pecked at each others' necks and breasts, parrying and drawing back in turns, keeping it up for a couple of minutes at a stretch. Usually they would stop and retreat for a while, then resume. A few times though, in the midst of the pecking one would grab the bill of the other and then Mr. Dove would make his move. While we see an avian tryst or two in the spring most years, none has involved such elaborate foreplay.
We were treated to another novel bird encounter this morning as we drove to church--we saw a wild turkey along the side of the road, only about a mile from home. I've seen them in this county, but never so close to town. They are known to hit feeders; I'd love to see them at ours.
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