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...