Doves

This morning I was watching the doves trying to eat at the bird feeder. The feeder is small and really intended for small birds such as sparrows or wrens or maybe a cardinal, but doves are generally too large to get footing on the rail. They can do it but they have to stand sideways and perform some acrobatics to get down there from the roof or the perch. This morning there were about 7 doves trying to get to the food, 4 of which had managed to get themselves on the rails and were able to reach the food. The others were on the roof or perch trying to figure out how to fit in the remaining space. They would even step on another dove's back trying to get to the food. Since they could not get a grip on another dove's back, they slid off and fell towards the ground. Their wings caught them before they hit the ground and they would fly back and try again. I think that is the first time I have noticed them stepping on one another to get to the food.This went on for about 20 minutes before I moved to get the camera and they were frightened off. It never fails when you want a picture, they stop doing whatever they were doing that you wanted a picture of.