Or more accurately, a small flock of mourning doves. These photographs are from a couple of days ago and they were made while looking out through the dirty windows so they are not very sharp. Two of the doves were sitting at the foot of our back door pressing their beaks up against the glass, cocking their little heads and peering in. I wonder what they were thinking? : ) Perhaps they were eyeing the pot of herbs just inside the door.
The deep cold from several days ago has dissipated. It rarely stays that cold for too long here, although, it is sure to return. In the past few days we’ve had a lot of snow, a bit of rain, and now you can hear the gentle sound of tiny ice pellets falling on the deep snow. The weather is sure fidgety around here.
Wishing each and every one of you, peace and doves.
© Karen McRae, 2013
draw and shoot 
Wow gorgeous photos Karen! So beautiful. And those doves are so cute. Peace and doves to you too! 🙂
Thanks very much, Elina! : )
They do look sweet all puffed up in the cold.
So close ad so great details, wonderful bokeh! Really wonderful work:)
Thank you, Kerlund. I’m glad you enjoy these.
: )
“Peace and doves” to you too, my dear Karen!!! What a wonderful way to wish… Thank you!!!
Merry Christmas! 🙂
Merry Christmas to you too, Marina! : ) I hope you have a lovely holiday season.
Thanks very much!
These are beautiful, Karen. I think this is the first time I’ve seen Turtle doves.
They are lovely birds, aren’t they.
Technically speaking these are not true turtledoves although that is one of their nicknames – “the Mourning Dove is in the genus Zenaida and the European Turtle-Dove is in the genus Streptopelia ” quote from this page: http://my.nature.org/birds/bird-month/Mourning-Dove.html
Thanks, Karen. I’ve seen Doves here but they don’t have the Mourning Doves coloration. They’re very puffed up in this photograph..assumably for the colder weather.
And a partridge in a pear tree! Happy Season Karen 🙂
Ha, thanks, Kat! : )
Happy season to you too. xx
Amazing! Very very special and so beautiful.
It was kind of special to have them peering in the door. So cute!
Thank you, Heila.
So sweet doves, and I am wondering too, what they think.. Thank you for a wonderful year inside here, looking at your magical pictures and text. Wish you the best for your holiday! ❤
Thanks for your always lovely comments and support, Gro.
Happy Holidays! ❤
Just beautiful, Merry Christmas.
Thank you, Diana. Merry Christmas to you also.
Beautiful little birds … lovely snow. Happy Christmas Karen, and wishes for an excellent 2014 too!
Thank you. Happy Christmas and New Year to you too, Trish! : )
Joy to the World with these images…beautiful subjects, beautifully captured, such a delight!
Thanks very much, Steven! I figure doves peeking in my window could only mean good things. : )
I’ll bet that’s true. Good energy all round. Your visitors finding you and you finding them. Such wonder. And wonderfulness.
Sorry to overdo my share of text-space but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the absolutely gorgeous and skilled photography!!!
Don’t ask for whom the dove toils . . . it toils for herbs.
Thanks for the wishes, and likewise . . . unless you’re hungry, in which case I wish pieces of doves.
Beautiful post! I wish you a peaceful and joyful Christmas.
-Patricia:
They are amazingly sweet Karen !
I especially love second photo. — So, piece of doves !
beautiful. now you just need to find some geese a laying and a partridge in a pear tree! lovely doves!
Beautiful portraits, so intimate….I know their feathers well. Happens when there are neighborhood cats around and I find the feathers scattered under the rosemary. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them featured so beautifully, Karen. Wonderful….!
Oh, beautiful! I love mourning doves! Best wishes to you, this holiday season!
Fabulous pictures Karen!
Beautiful images. Merry Christmas. Have a safe and happy holidays.
Gorgeous photos Karen once again! Merry Christmas to you and yours Karen 🙂
Belle envolée Karen , tout mes vœux pour la suite ,
mes amitiés en l’an , ta muse étant souveraine ,
légère en son arène , telles ces deux virevoltants ,
rose et l’hiver d’ors blancs , la neige ses jours un mythe.
~
NéO~
~
Becs Alchimiques
Amazing shots!!
How beautiful those doves are (and what gorgeous light).
Our spotted Turtle Doves in Australia are about the closed to these.
Aw, they’re lovely. Peace and doves to you too, Karen. Have a great break and a wonderful new year!
Thanks for the doves, thanks for the peace. I wish you happiness and peace as well, we rather have pigeons here, not the best as a peace symbol.
I love that third image, Karen…a sweetness there. I, too, thank you for the peace and the doves…wishing you the same happiness for the season….
Lovely, what more could we wish for – Peace and Doves to you too Karen x
The subject goes very nicely with the season Karen. Merry Cristmas and an awesome 2014
Peace and doves to you Karen. I love the warm color on the doves compared to the last cold blue! see you in 2014 🙂 Carla
….and a 2.8 lens under my treeeeeee. LOL. Joking aside, those are wonderful shots. I’ve never seen a turtle dove actually. Merry Christmas!
Beautifully composed photos. The colours, together with the contrast between the fluffy feathers and the rigid iron fence, combine to complete very effective pictures.
You do far more than merely wish peace: you dispense peace in each and every one of your posts. All the best (and doves) to you, too. 🙂
What pretty little creatures they are. I love that second image.
Here in Sydney it has been stinking hot and humid but today it’s cooler. Hooray!
A very happy Christmas to you and yours, Karen.
Flawless and artistic composition. Peace and many lovely doves Karen!
Wonderful photos – those doves look just the way Christmas doves should, soft, gentle and welcoming! I do hope you have a wonderful, peaceful and happy Christmas Karen. I have so much enjoyed your posts this year xx
oh wow how perfectly timed! 🙂
What a beautiful sight, Karen! Wishing you a beautiful Xmas and all the best for the upcoming new year. As always, a pleasure to follow your blog!!
Gee Karen, your windows are a LOT cleaner than mine! Keep warm and have a wonderful holiday!
beautiful capture
it’s very nice ,happy christmas
Beautiful light on the birds!
I love mourning doves and you captured them beautifully !
such beautiful birds Karen. I particularly like the stretching neck one 🙂
Too beautiful. Mourning doves are the most delightful creatures. OOooo I love to listen to them.
Down here, we have mourning doves, and then another dove that looks quite similar but not quite…a collared dove. Introduced, not a Florida original. When I first saw the deep orange-eyed look-a-like, I thought, “OOooo lovely, I will just nest here and have a wee listen to those sonorous and mournful coos, yes, right here beneath this lovely bow laden with dovies.” Imagine my surprise when great obnoxious guttural sounds were slung down at me from above, causing me to topple right over. The placid-looking creatures issued forth the most outlandish noises- like a fiendish child’s rasping with evil laughter after successfully completely some horrid trick on some unsuspecting, bumbling victim. Some kind of “wing whistle” as it is called. Hmph. That was no sweet little cooing whistle. It was an emphysemic siren that reverberated for miles. It was terrifying, and gloriously wonderful, but of course. 😉
Wonderful wintry images and such wonderful writing to go along with them. Absolutely marvelous. Smiling cheers,
Autumn Jade
I miss seeing mourning doves. You have captured their serenity and sweetness.
Such a beautiful photos! And the birds are so cute 🙂
I love the last two- what great captures!
– Constance