Last Monday, August 4, I went again, and picked out these two.
The light blue is female, she's about 3 months old, and the darker is male, he's about 7 months old. They were in a cage the same size as they are now, but with about 20 other birds.
It was tough to get the right ones, they old fella that was catching them kept telling me which ones I should get, essentially which ever one he got hold of first, and I kept saying No and pointing to the ones I wanted.
It took about two days for them to settle in, now they jump around chat back and forth and preen themselves and each other for hours on end. They are bonding, to each other, and in time to me as well. They have a space on the patio where they spend their day, and I currently lock them in the guest bathroom at night. This keeps them secure from the cats, well cat. Tatie would love to make them jump all over the cage. And I don't think Mattie has even noticed them.
They don't have names yet, haven't yet found their personalities to affix a name to them.
The little ruddy ground doves have started coming up on to the patio to forage the seeds and treats that end up on the ground. These little guys get very excited when they see other birds. The male has a particular warning call that I can already identify and know to get up to see what's going on. It's quite different that his fussing sound he makes when the little female is in his way.
The little female doesn't have her flight feathers yet and it's so cute to watch her, when she wants to jump up to the perch, or from perch to perch, she will lean in to the direction she wants to go - bob forward in that direction a few times, flap her little wings a few times, then climb the bars till she gets where she wants to be. Her flight feathers are coming in quickly so she will be jumping in no time. Maybe her name should be Amelia.