Doves
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
From time immemorial, doves have been seen as symbols of peace and hope. For example, it is a dove in the story of Noah’s Ark that is sent out to seek for dry land, returning with an olive branch.
Sometimes white doves are released at weddings and occasionally at funerals. There are many companies providing dove release services.
Doves are noted for their faithfulness, some species, like the collared dove, mating for life, so they are an apt choice for celebrations like weddings. White doves symbolise purity and innocence and it is a lovely thing to see a flock ascending to the heavens, but what happens to them afterwards?
If fantail doves are used, they perform in a different way. They may be kept on display in cages during the ceremony and taken out to be handed to the happy couple for them to throw them into the air, when they will fly for a short while and then return to the ground. Fantail doves do not fly far and have no homing instinct. Instead, they amble about on the ground and are then taken back home in a carrier.
The doves that are released to fly high are homing pigeons that have been selectively bred to produce white birds. Recently, I have noticed several white pigeons flying over our garden, too swift to be photographed, and wondered where they had come from. Of course, they may be nothing to do with any of the dove release companies in the near vicinity.
However, as in all things, there are disreputable people who do not think beyond the commercial aspects of a venture and may find themselves unable to care for their charges and so release them into the wild to cope as best they can, though I must emphasise this is speculation on my part. I have no way of verifying this. White pigeon-sized birds do not survive long, being preyed upon by hawks and gulls and wily cats.
This is a good piece on doves
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteVery interesting, I didn't know all this. TQ
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Dove releases are quite big business.
DeleteBeautiful birds but I share your concern about the welfare of those kept for commercial purposes.
ReplyDeleteAll the companies claim to keep their birds in excellent conditions - I hope it is so.
DeleteAn interesting little post about doves. At least released doves don't go the way of helium balloons. The fantail looks nice. I don't like the doves that look like pigeons. Guilty by association.
ReplyDeleteThey're all pigeons, really, just slightly different in colouring and size.
DeleteWhite doves are really a romantic pair of birds ! The once which circle over your house must be Russian spies !
ReplyDeleteThey won't learn much from us!
DeleteAnother bird which mates for life is the pigeon. When i worked for the county, my equipment was stoored in an old barn. I was putting my things away when i saw a pigeon standing neat. It stood there so quietly. It just seemed sad. I spoke with it. It seemed to be listening. When i approached, it quietly walked to another room. I followed it and it led me to the body of a dead pigeon. It circled it soundlessly. I left it to grieve in peace and came home to read up on pigeons.
ReplyDeleteThat is so sad. Humans don't have the monopoly on grief.
DeleteWe have had a pair of collared doves nesting in our garden for the past two years but unfortunately one of them recently became dinner for the local sparrowhawk. I am not sure what happened to the other one since
ReplyDeleteI love collared doves and their soft crooning call. Sparrowhawks have to live, too.
DeleteI always wondered what happened to the birds after they were released.
ReplyDeleteSome cannot survive in the wild and starve to death. Horrible.
DeleteOur native dove here is the mourning dove. Its calls sound like it is grieving. They are not white but rather, brown tannish with some black spots. They come into our yard sometimes. I read somewhere that their life expectancy is from 2 to 4 years, with about 70% mortality in their first year of life. I do feel for domestic doves that are just released for show and expected to fend on their own by their trainer.
ReplyDeleteWe have mourning doves rarely in UK. Such pretty birds. It's wrong to accede to fashion with no thought for the birds involved.
DeleteI guess I am not a fan of having birds released at weddings. Raising butterflies that will take off and do what they do is better if a person simply must do this. Weddings turn into such exorbitant affairs.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Weddings can so quickly become a money pit - and why? So many seem to be about show and very little about commitment.
DeleteNice post. We have Mourning Doves here. Lots of them in the garden. They hog all the feeders and just sit there tossing bits off. There must be five or six pairs.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as if all the pigeon/dove family are food hogs!
DeleteThanks. Your posts are always educational.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThose fantail doves are gorgeous! I'd no idea dove release companies existed, so thank you for educating me once more! xxx
ReplyDeleteThey are beautiful. I've never kept birds, though we did contemplate doves at one point a few years ago. I'm glad we didn't as I would always be worried about them.
ReplyDelete