More About Doves

I know, I do go on about them - and, yes, they are feral, introduced and probably pests - but I kind of like them.

In my experience doves have only two uses for bird baths - to have a drink and occasionally to stand in them for a minute or so, presumably to cool down. I have never seen one actually splash and bathe - until now. Apparently nor have any of the other doves living around here because when one of their number plunged into the bird bath and started splashing a few mornings ago they all stopped drinking and stared. It splashed more, ducking its head under and flapping enthusiastically. They all pulled their heads back and pushed their chests out. It hopped onto a vacant part of the rim, fluffed its feathers, took a drink and flew over to the fence to fluff again. The other doves decided to ignore the whole thing. Some drank and two hopped into the bird bath, stood for a minute then hopped out. It was as if they collectively decided to show the errant dove how it should behave. It didn't work. It was back again the next morning bathing happily. Perhaps it will start a new trend.