The lesson of the mourning dove

I want to tell you about an interesting experience that I had with a mourning dove recently. The one you see pictured above.

Let me start by saying that a lot of the work that I do as an animal communicator involves humans wanting to know more about what they can do to step in and help their animals. Stepping in usually involves things like taking the animals to the vet, drug regimens, corrective surgeries, etc. Often the message I receive from the animal is that they would rather be left alone to allow the malady, injury or period of difficulty to work itself out. They often express that intervention is painful, upsetting or intrusive. Animals are more in alignment than we are with the natural way of things. They understand at a deep level that discomfort and upset are a natural part of life. We, on the other hand, tend to want to rush in and do whatever we can to fix what we perceive to be wrong with or uncomfortable for our animal companions. No blame - we've had a lifetime of conditioning that makes it quite natural for us to want to do this. But... what if we honored the wishes of the animal that asked us to wait? What would happen? My experience with a mourning dove provided one such possible answer. 

This dove flew hard into the large picture window on the front of the house. I ran to the window to see how she had faired. She had fallen to the ground, her body convulsing. I waited and kept watch. Eventually she fell over forward onto her head and became completely still. I went outside to take a closer look. Her eyes were closed and she was as stiff as a board. It appeared that she had died as the result of her hard collision with the glass.

I pondered the situation for a moment. I did not relish the thought of having to move her or bury her so instead I decided to give my decision making around what I was going to do with her some space.

As I was telling my husband what had just happened I got a very strong feeling that I should leave her exactly where she was. Having no idea why, I intellectualized that it was likely because nature was to take its course. Night, where we live, brings many nocturnal animals who would benefit from a meal of a dove. This made perfect sense to me. Rather than bury her, allowing her to become a meal for a hungry animal seemed perfectly natural and in alignment with nature. So, resisting any squeamishness around such a thought I simply left her where she was.

The next morning my husband and I took our coffee outside to our sitting spot which is exactly where the dove had fallen and I had left her. We were very surprised to see that, not only was she still there, but she was sitting up and breathing. She had survived! To say the least I was very glad that I had not acted on burying her the day before when it looked like she was dead.

We assessed the situation. She was under a chair in the raised front porch area which afforded her some protection from both the elements and possible predators. Choosing to honor the ethic of non-interference we decided not to move her but rather to leave her where she was and monitor her progress on a regular basis. I placed a towel over the chair she was under to create a more sheltered area, brought her a low dish of water and placed some wild bird seed near her feet. I sat quietly near her for awhile trying to assess her situation. Both of her eyes were closed. The right eye looked very swollen and I thought that it might be severely damaged from the impact. She continued to sit very still while breathing quite deeply.

I would check on her several times during the day and again each night right before going to bed. In the morning I would hold my breath as I took my coffee outside to see if she had made it through the night and was still there. And each morning she was! She gradually began to look better and better. She was opening her eyes more. The right eye that I had thought might be blinded also looked better with time. Three days after the accident she began moving around a bit on the porch relocating short distances from where she had fallen. There was evidence that she was drinking her water though I was never quite sure if she was getting any of the seed because I would find a sneaky bird or two hopping away quickly as I approached to check on her. The seed would be all gone so I would replace it. However, I would find her sitting on the edge of the water dish which was a good sign that she was at least nourishing herself by drinking. 

This went on for five more days. On the final morning we went out to see that she had moved farther from her sheltered spot then she ever to this point had. She was also spreading her wings and flapping them for the first time, too. We watched as she gingerly hopped her way to the edge of the porch, which took her several tries. She flapped her wings and flew off the front porch stoop onto the front yard. She sat still for a while. She began vigorously flapping her wings in short bursts. Then she took to flight before our very eyes! 

Her flight path took her behind the house. It looked like she was headed to a tree in the backyard and I tried to follow her, however, I eventually lost track of her.  

So how does this all tie together? The dove experience was an impromptu experiment in what can happen when we choose not to interfere in the affairs of animals and that the outcome can, indeed, be a happy one. I feel that, although I wasn't tapped into it at the time, I was receiving a communication from the dove to leave her where she was so she could just be still and, hopefully heal. And heal she apparently did. 

Now... I am not saying that we should never interfere with the affairs of our animal companions. Sometimes seeking veterinary assistance or administering a certain drug are just the ticket to recovery. But sometimes time, in and of itself, is the best healer. And our animal companions will often let us know this in their communication with us. And, perhaps, sometimes, we should check our need to interfere at the door and we should listen...

What of the dove? Well I'm not sure to be honest. I tried to look for her but one dove looks very much like another and this was no help. A few days after she had flown away I was in the backyard and I was thinking about the dove and wondering how she was. On the heels of this thought, all of a sudden there was a burst of doves, probably more than 30 of them, flying out of the tree that our dove had flown towards the morning she left. It felt like I was being given a message that she had, indeed, reunited her dove tribe and that all was ok.