Mourning Dove

I used to see mourning doves frequently many years ago, and then for many years I did not see them.
I think these were the years when my husband fed the feral cats.
This would have been dangerous for the doves. They are a rather slow bird.
Fortunately for the birds, the feral cats are all gone now.
For the past couple of weeks I have been seeing a mourning dove couple periodically in our garden.
They were playing by my kitchen window very recently.
Today I spotted a lone mourning dove in one of my school's courtyards. I had to stop and stare at it for a minute.
I don't think I have ever seen a mourning dove at my school. I thought this bird was oddly out of place.

The picture above is an old picture from long ago. This mother dove nested in the alcove of a tall juniper stump covered with ivy. I have never had the heart to cut the stump completely down for this reason. Eventually it grew downward and a side branch came out of the ground and grew upward. It is now very tall. Long ago I bound the stump together with the branch to give the young offshoot support. It stands in a spot which gets a fair amount of wind in the winter.
The ivy covers it over now. Stripping the ivy is a long overdue project which hopefully can be done in the early spring.
I will keep it there for the winter to help with wind protection.

Update-- I found this picture and decided I should show the couple before the nest was needed.