"The Babies Are Here!"

Our little mourning dove parents have been faithfully taking turns sitting on their nest each day (see my post of March 19th) and I started wondering when those eggs were going to hatch. It seemed they should have hatched by now--so I decided to climb up on the stepladder and take a peek. I got a nice photo of the dad (I'm pretty sure it's a male because of the blue on his feathers), and then he flew away, so I held my camera up high so I wouldn't disturb what was in the nest when I took photos, and was surprised when I looked at the photos--there were 2 baby birds in the nest! I gently tipped the planter so I could look at them, and they had their eyes closed and weren't moving at all--I thought maybe the parents were sitting on birds that weren't alive, but then I saw the slightest movement, and noticed that the babies were breathing--but they were so quiet and still! Of course I didn't touch the nest or babies, as I didn't want my scent to be on them--and sure enough, the dad returned as soon as I climbed down. I imagine the babies are only a couple of days old, as I know they open their eyes after about 3 or 4 days. What a miracle life is! And what a cool way to begin my day!