Samuel F. B. and the Dove

It's like the original binary language.  That may not interest you, and I know the Mourning Doves, making their gentle calls in what sounds like slow, sad Morse code are not sending any covert messages in the pulsed coos.

We have these doves in Portland but not in abundance.  When we're visiting Bend, we see them clustered about the house, having found a notch under the eaves on both the east and west side of the house for nests.  Their call is the first sound in the morning air.  As I lie in bed, sliding slowly toward awareness, their code tells me the day is here.

Curious Things I get to do today include looking up Samuel F. B. Morse and doing a little code work with the call patterns I've heard.  If you are speaking Morse code "dah" is a dash and "di" is a dot.  The lovely dovelies in our yard seem to favor the code letter "G" which sounds like dah, dah, dit.  They also used patterns that could be "T" (dah), "R" (di-dah-dit),  "O" (dah-dah-dah) , "J" (di-dah-dah-dah), and a pairing of rapid "E" and "M" (di, dah-dah, di, dah-dah, di, dah-dah, di, dah-dah).  What's to be made of this?  Perhaps it is most clear that Mourning Doves know nothing of Samuel F. B. Morse, that interesting as their calls are, they do not translate into human language, that they know all that needs to be known in how to communicate in "dove," and that Handy Andy can safely move to the next thing on her day's list.