Window Peepers!

Our dining room picture window on the front of our house overlooks our big red oak tree. It also has a half-moon window above the main window which is always uncovered to allow light into the main part of our home and also affords us a few into the upper part of the tree. Several years ago, though, I was quite surprised to discover that I had some window peepers who were looking in our house through that half-moon window during the day. They did not just come peeping once or twice either. They showed up almost every day for several weeks! Friends and family did not believe my story about the new window peepers, so I captured a few photos of the peepers to prove my story true.

The first photo below is one of the first window peeper photos that I took in late October 2009 as the leaves on our red oak were changing and made such a pretty bokeh background. I took the photo while inside the house, and this cute little window peeper sat very still for me and allowed me to capture a very nice photo. In fact, this remains one of my favorite bird photos even today as I remember how long this cute White-winged Dove sat in the tree, looking in the half-moon window to the inside of our house and watched me carefully the entire time I took my photos. From that point on, I continued to look up through the half-moon window each day for my window peepers, and happily, they returned day after day for quite some time.

Window peeper! A cute White-winged Dove

More window peepers! Look at their “bright orange eyes and blue eye shadow.”

“Originally a bird of desert thickets, the White-winged Dove has become a common sight in cities and towns across the southern U.S. When perched, this bird’s unspotted brown upperparts and neat white crescents along the wing distinguish it from the ubiquitous Mourning Dove. In flight, those subdued crescents become flashing white stripes worthy of the bird’s common name. Take a closer look and you’ll see a remarkably colorful face, with bright-orange eyes and blue “eye shadow.”
–The Cornell Lab of Ornithology – www.allaboutbirds.org

It seemed at times that the peepers were a bit bored with us and just opted to take a nice, long nap instead of peeping into our house.

Sleeping peepers in my tree

“The White-winged Dove is a dove whose native range extends from the south-western USA through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.”
— Wikipedia

Ever since I saw these cute peeping doves for the first time, I have been blessed to have them return year after year to this same spot to keep me entertained as I watch them through the window on many days. For some reason, the doves just seem to enjoy sitting in our tree where they can see inside our house, and as I walk past the window, I can often see them looking at me as I walk by.

When we recently had our tree pruned, I insisted that the “peeper branch” be preserved for my little feathered friends, even though my hubby said it would make the tree look strange. After all, the doves and I have kept each other company through the window for five years now. I won the battle, and the branch remains today. Thankfully, the doves are still coming fairly regularly to their special branch to window peep, as well as to frequent our bird feeders and our bird bath.

Sometimes I wonder what the peepers must be thinking as they sit for hours, looking through the window to the inside of our home. We must be a very entertaining bunch!