Wednesday, September 5, 2012

New Life



Just outside our back door we have a star jasmine bush growing up and around one of the patio posts.  It was there when we bought our home and year after year has continued to grow healthily, becoming carpeted in fragrant white blooms just before the warmer months set in.

In addition to this bush producing a mass of flowers, each year come spring, it becomes home for at least one nest of doves, if not more.  Some take up residence in existing nests, others 'house sit' the homes of their previous feathered friends.

A few weeks back though, our jasmine bush began looking a bit sick - straggly and bare.  Paul gave it a bit of a prune away from the beams and in the process, left a nest exposed right on the top branches, tucked under the patio roof.  This is where our latest little dove friend decided to call home.

Grace and I have been waiting patiently for action and after excitedly discovering several eggs, have been watching day after day to see if any had hatched.  After the weather here in Perth becoming decidedly spring-like over the weekend, yesterday it reverted back to winter with strong rain and hail.  And so, stuck inside, we kept an eye on our dove from the kitchen table.  Suddenly, we saw the little mother bird flapping around and realized one of the eggs had finally hatched.  I raced to grab my camera and zoom lens and managed to snap this precious shot below at just the right moment...



There's something so special about witnessing new life, no matter what its form.  Now we'll keep watch as this baby grows and takes its first little flight... 

15 comments:

  1. So sweet! I got goosebumps reading this. How special that Grace got to witness such a precious moment. That's the kind of thing she'll remember for days...x

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  2. WOW!!!! That is amazing and what great timing Amanda!
    How beautiful! Look and how grown up Gracie looks and I've been so bad with my blog visiting I haven't even seen your new look blog! Bad friend I am :(
    I hope you're having a great day and the stormy weather has passed.
    Love,
    Jxx

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  3. Fabulous photo Amanda and what a moment to witness! How thrilling for Grace!!! xx

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  4. oh, that is gorgeous....what a lovely moment to capture.

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  5. What an amazing photo!! You must have a steady hand to get that with the zoom lens. Hopefully the storms and wind don't blow the babies out of the nest!

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  6. I love this post, Amanda. Any story of wildlife, especially baby birds, and I'm hooked. What a great photo you captured. One of my favorite summer memories is of a robin making a nest on a support beam above our front porch. I bought mealworms and fed that brood until they flew off. The mother robin would come very close to me to get her worms and fly back to the nest with them. It was a wonderful experience!
    Claudia

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  7. OMG....awesome! What a great shot Amanda, and such a beautiful thing to witness. Love it. So Spring :)
    xx
    P.S. Ella has those same 'Jessie' pj's :))

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  8. Oh how precious! That is so beautiful, I LOVE moments like theses, especially when shared with my girls :)

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  9. awwwwww...look at that picture! gorgeous!

    we have two very fat doves that live around our houses...they eat the seeds off the trees in our backyard, but more often you'll see them eating our cat's left over biscuits and dinner. and they swim and drink and play in our water feature. olive loves watching them trot around our courtyard....she "oohs" and "aahhhhs!" over them.

    it will be wonderful for grace and sophie to (hopefully fingers crossed!) watch the baby grow up.

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  10. Just lovely Amanda...i bet Grace was entranced...i love walking around with my girls trying to spot these sort of things! Thanks so much for sharing such a lovely moment in time!

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  11. This is a beautiful photo and a wonderful experience for Grace to witness. xx

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  12. What a great photo! It's wonderful watching new life take shape x

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  13. Awww. So sweet. I agree with Catherine...this must be a wonderful for Grace. x

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