One Mourning Dove egg hatched at some point today. When I got home after soccer with the boys this evening, there was one, slightly fluffy chick in the nest. The other egg shows no sign of anything yet. Actually, the technical term for dove and pigeon babies is a "squab." Somehow doesn't seem to fit what are normally elegant looking birds.
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| Mourning Dove squab |
Chicks are fed crop milk, or also called dove milk, for the first few days because Mourning Dove's eat almost exclusively seeds. Other birds eat more insects, and can then regurgitate this for their young. Dove milk is produced as a secretion from the bird's crop. A few days before the eggs hatch, the adults won't eat so they can produce this milk.
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| Mourning Dove squab |
The little baby is only about 40cm here. Amazing how this comes out of the tiny egg. The whole amazing design and working of how birds begin and hatch from an egg is an amazing design with perfectly working processes - a testament to an amazing and creative Designer!
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