This afternoon ended on a sad sort of note. I was starting dinner and all of a sudden I heard a thump against the house.

I went outside and lying on the ground was one of my doves. I don’t know why this dove flew into the house or window so hard, but it did.

I have loved mourning doves and their comforting cooing since I was a child.

Anyway, this was one of the younger doves. It sat on the back patio for a bit and then moved close to the house behind my wheelbarrow. I thought it was just stunned but then it just slumped over. It was gone, just like that.

I get the whole Darwinian theory of it all as far as survival of the fittest in the animal and bird world, but I am still kind of bummed. I love our woodland birds.

The dove was laid to rest in the woods. It is survived by the rest of the doves who visit us daily.