Tuesday, June 02, 2009

mourning doves

more than any other bird not on disassembly lines
an estimated 70 million are shot by hunters annually,
while other birds make happy songs
mourning doves emit a plaintive lament - coo coo coo
a favorite sound since mornings of my youth

look for them not in deep woods, but in open fields
and sitting on telephone wires
doves fly a swift 55 miles an hour in straight lines
eat only seeds
their poorly constructed nest tends to fall apart

unlike other birds, doves blink
sad like circus clown Emmet Kelly
who swept the spotlight with a broom,
they are cute,
yet, pitiful

2 comments:

gerry boyd said...

birds will, of course, be birds. expecting otherwise seems to contravene the laws of nature.

jack sender said...

gerry,

thanks for taking a look. no laws broken here.

the combination of observations i made about that bird: speed, flying straight, poor nest construction, blinking, sad call, nesting in open areas, are particular to the dove.

i'll add that they don't appear to be very bright.

if they weren't around our home, and i hadn't written about them (which required a modicom of research ) i wouldn't know much about them.