one of the things I like most about my neighborhood...
is the presence of mourning doves...
in the warm weather...
both morning and evenings are filled with...
oo-wah-hoo-oo... oo-oo...
as they call to each other...
it's romantic to say that they "mate for life"...
when in reality, only 20% of all doves actually live an entire year...
and half of those... never see their 2nd birthday...
so they do, in essence, mate for life...
they're always found in pairs...feeding on the ground...
making that skittering whistle as they fly...
or if separated...
calling their mate...
there is a pair around here...
I see & hear them..
but there is also a single dove...
calling out...but never answered...
there is something so sad about it's solitary existence...
making it's song that much more mournful...
knowing... that it'll never be answered...
when I was a kid, growing up on the ranch...
I hated September...
not because of school...I liked school...
but September meant "dove season"...
it still does...
all summer long...the doves would serenade us...
morning and evening... with their call...
if we walked up around the ditch...
or to the "back 20"... they would "startle"...
and fly away as we walked by....
making that skittering whistle as they flew...
until they settled again... hiding in the brush...
on September 1st... we'd hear the hunters...
and it continued through the month...
the survivors would call...often in vain...
until they too were hunted down....
soon... the sound of distant guns would cease...
and eventually...the doves would return...
to provide the soundtrack of my peaceful life...
the next spring... and it all began again...
I'm very glad that they don't allow hunting in the city...
although I'm sure that there are plenty of people...
who would love to get a gun...
and blast away at the doves that I enjoy hearing...
and when September comes...
I'll smile as I hear them...
knowing that at least these...
are safe... from the hunter's guns...
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