White-winged Dove Eating Saguaro Fruit — Image by kenne
White-Winged Dove Eating Saguaro Fruit
High on the arms of the old saguaro,
The white-winged dove sings softly, “Mañana.
Red fruit splits in the morning heat,
offering nectar, seeds, and sweets.
She dips her beak in ruby flesh,
desert silence holding fresh—
The hush of wings, rise of the sun,
the feast begins, the summer’s begun.
Cactus bloom to crimson rind,
a gift the dove was born to find.
Life in thorns, life in flight,
drawn to bloom by heat and light.
Once the flowers become fruit, the doves have a new food source. The sweet fruit is filled with thousands of tiny seeds, which pass unharmed through the digestive system of the dove. If seeds are passed while the dove is perched on a tree or bush, that tree or bush might become a nurse plant to the growing saguaro. Such a plant protects the young saguaro from extreme weather and animals and greatly increases its chances of survival.
For the Tohono O’odham, the saguaro cactus and its fruit (bahidaj) is a very important part of their 
White-winged Dove Abstract Art by kenne
White-winged Dove On a Giant Saguaro Cactus — Images by kenne
