Day 3 - Little Hope the laughing dove chick

29-02-2012
Hubby came back from doing some chores at work and found that the nest was empty.
We immediately presumed that the red-eyed doves, which I photographed earlier, were the culprits.
We scanned the ground below the nest, and there the little bird was sitting on the ground.
It fell this long distance twice and survived and again another time when Hubby misjudged judged the angle of his yogurt tub scoop.
We are becoming experts at putting birds back into nests.   We no longer need ladders, which were a great disturbance for the other birds, but used a longer pole.

11.30
It has been over an hour since the chick was put back into the nest and the parent has not returned.  The little featherless chick was quite cold when I picked it up.  I hope it does not die from exposure after all this effort.
One thing that I have learned is to give birds lots of patience and disturb them as little as possible.  Even a tamed bird can take fright from too keen an attempt to help.
I shall name this little bird Hope.
12.30
We discussed the problem with Little Hope and decided to remove the chick from the nest and try and hand-rear it.    We cannot watch it all the time and the next time the Red-eyed doves return, it may peck it to death.