Dove of the Air

Doves are a strange sort of creature. Those of you who are familiar with the Mosaic law will find that doves offered as a pair were an acceptable sacrifice for a poor family to make to the Lord. Since we are no longer bringing a pair of poor doves to the Lord, who have nothing to offer but themselves, let's look at them now with a fresh pair of eyes. As stated before, doves come in pairs. That is because most doves grow up to sit on the branch of a tree and call for a mate. It might sound a little strange for you to go in the wood and hear 'coooooo cooooo' but if you call to them, they'll actually call back. That is because doves have learned a social behavior. They find their mate primarily by sound and then by their looks.

Since all doves look alike, they have to indicate the mate of their choice by behavior. Some birds will do a sort of dance for their mate. The dove on the other hand, gets as close to the mate as possible to show a sort of bird-like affection. This can be done through grooming rituals or even performing various functions of nesting. Doves prefer to make their nests out of sticks, twigs, grass, leaves and other such materials. One of them will go on the hunt for nice objects. Once these are found, they will bring them back to the mate. The other mate then goes to work weaving the things together to make a nice nest. Once a nest has been made, the dove can lay eggs which then will hatch. But first, the dove must sit on the nest. This keeps the eggs warm, at a constant body temperature, and gets them ready to hatch.

Any colder, and the eggs will not hatch at all. Any hotter, and they will also stay there in their place on the nest. Doves have been known to take turns, as some birds do, sitting on their nest. Should time and circumstance drive them apart, doves always find a way back together. It is sort of odd how the same birds can find each other again and again. But some of them do for a number of reasons. The doves also have been known to nest in the rocks overhead, in a cavern, in the woods, or even high in a tree. Once the baby doves have hatched, the parents take turns hunting and bringing them food until the time has come for the babies to fly.

O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.

Psalm 74:19