I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 555: The Tale of the Collared Dove Learning to Fly

Weekend at Liu Xueqing’s home!

At this moment, Liu Xueqing and Yingying had moved a chair outside the balcony, sitting and observing the situation inside through the glass door.

They hadn’t gone to the zoo this weekend, and were staying at home watching the collared doves.

The collared dove fledglings were already half a month old.

During this time, their parents had been flying in and out daily, looking for food to feed them.

When they were first born, their eyes hadn’t even opened. Now, they could stand up, hop out of the flowerpot, stretch their wings, preen their feathers, and jump around. They were even active on the balcony’s trellis, and their growth rate surprised Liu Xueqing.

Lately, there seemed to be something different!

After feeding, the father dove didn’t perch on the balcony railing as usual.

Instead, he flapped his wings and flew from Liu Xueqing’s balcony to an air conditioning unit diagonally across, a distance of about 4 or 5 meters.

Looking this way, he called out twice, seemingly encouraging the fledglings to try to fly over like he did.

For the past two days, the fledglings had been grooming their wing feathers constantly, as if preparing for flight.

One fledgling looked at the father on the air conditioning unit, stood up a bit, walked back and forth, hopped a couple of times, as if warming up for an attempt.

It edged out of the flowerpot bit by bit, jumped onto the balcony trellis, spread its wings slightly, glanced outside, then drew them back in and hopped back into the flowerpot.

The little body curled up, looking somewhat uneasy, as it gazed at the mother dove standing next to the flowerpot.

The more timid one glanced at the air conditioning unit across from them and was frightfully scared, immediately tucking itself under the mother dove’s belly, burying its head deeply, as if only by clinging to the mother’s warm down could it feel a bit of security.

The mother dove gave it a look but made no further move.

To just calmly stay put here was soothing encouragement for the fledgling.

Liu Xueqing herself was also very nervous, her palms even began to sweat. Her home was on the 7th floor, after all!

From the look of things, the fledglings were beginning to learn how to fly. If they failed to take off and fell from such a height, they would surely die on impact.

The fledgling stayed curled up for a while, then crawled out from under the mother dove again.

This time, the father dove returned from the opposite side. He opened his mouth and called out twice.

As if saying, flying is actually very simple, look at how I flew over and back!

The mother dove also stood up, jumped onto the railing, and flapped her wings twice, watching the fledglings, seemingly demonstrating and guiding them on how to fly.

Learning to fly is your first step in the life of a bird! You are now ready to fly; you must overcome the fear in your hearts. If you don’t learn to fly, you can’t grow up.

The two adult doves took turns pressing the issue, hopping from the balcony railing to the flowerpot and back down again.

Yingying, having watched this scene, seemed to understand something and asked, "Mama, are the little doves going to fly?"

Liu Xueqing answered, "Mmm, they should be!"

"Oh!"

Yingying found the scene quite fascinating, not the least bit worried or scared for the fledglings.

To birds, flight is a natural occurrence, right?

The father dove flew back to the air conditioning unit opposite them and demonstrated a few more times!

Meanwhile, three other adult doves had flown over and perched on the balcony trellis, watching the fledglings, seemingly relatives like uncles and aunts coming to visit.

Hearing that the kids were learning to fly, they came to check it out, not bringing any gifts, no need for formalities.

After waiting for a while, Yingying took out her toys and began to play on the ground.

Liu Xueqing went back inside the house, glancing over during the mealtime.

In the evening, the fledglings still remained in their nest, not having flown over. However, tonight the parent doves were absent, leaving them alone in the flowerpot; usually, at least one adult dove would stay nearby.

It seemed she wanted to cultivate her child’s independence.

The next morning.

Liu Xueqing was concerned about the young collared doves and got up at 7 o’clock to see they were still in the flowerpot.

Now the collared dove father was on the railing again, spreading his wings to demonstrate to the little ones how to fly.

After breakfast, she continued to watch with Yingying, moving a stool to observe.

After the inner struggle of repeated flight attempts the day before, and having spent the night in the nest without the company of their parents, the young collared doves seemed to have grown quite a bit. Today, they boldly stepped directly onto the railing.

The collared dove father cooed twice, turned his head to look at the young doves, "Good, follow me!"

When he flapped his wings to fly over to the air conditioning unit diagonally opposite, one of the young doves took the lead, opening its wings and leaping from the balcony!

Liu Xueqing’s eyes widened instantly, her body subconsciously stood up, and her gaze followed the young collared dove closely!

The young collared dove flapped its wings, following its father across!

The other one, a little less brave, seeing its sibling fly away and fearing being left behind, also mustered up the courage to fly over.

They both landed smoothly on the air conditioning unit opposite.

"Mama, the little collared doves can fly now!"

Yingying happily bounced off the chair, opened the glass door, and ran to the railing.

"Wow~"

Liu Xueqing also breathed a sigh of relief, patted her chest, and followed onto the balcony.

She looked at the collared dove family opposite, her face showing a genuine smile!

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For some reason, she felt very moved.

Suddenly, she remembered that she had been so engrossed in watching the young doves take off that she had forgotten to take photos.

She quickly took a couple of photos and posted them to her circle of friends, "Haha, the collared doves at my home can fly now! Awesome!"

The collared dove father was not satisfied with just this and flew onto the windowsill of the house in front.

He cooed twice, seemingly calling the young doves to follow him.

But the two little ones, having just flown once, had used up all their courage.

Huddled together on the air conditioning unit, they were two little balls, absolutely refusing to follow.

Liu Xueqing’s balcony allowed them to hop about and move around, while the small area on the air conditioning unit outside the wall was like a protruding rock on a steep cliff, making them very scared to stay there.

The collared dove father flew back, lowered his head, seemingly encouraging and praising the two little ones.

He flew down, then back again after a while, opened his mouth to feed the young doves, continuing to fly to and fro, guiding them in flight.

One of the young doves seemed a bit interested, but after standing up and defecating, it lay back down again.

That night, the two young doves stayed on the air conditioning unit opposite, without the company of their parents, looking pitiable.

The next morning, Liu Xueqing habitually went out onto the balcony.

Looking over at the opposite air conditioner, she found that the young doves were no longer there, only a few traces of bird droppings remained.

"Did they fall, or did they fly away far with their parents?"

Liu Xueqing thought to herself.

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Just as she was pondering, she saw the two little ones in her own flowerpot, snuggled up together and looking at her obediently.

They had flown back again.

Compared to the narrow air conditioner, the place where they grew up seemed a bit safer.

They might need to stay here a while longer until their flying skills are honed before they fly away.