Mourning Doves in a Nest

[vintagejuls]

Right around Easter, I startled a Mourning Dove out of a hanging basket of Geraniums under my patio cover. She (or he) quickly returned but not before I could take a look to see if there were a nest with eggs. Indeed, there are 2 eggs and the pair of doves have been taking turns incubating the eggs for over 2 weeks now. The Doves are quite common here where I live in a suburb of Los Angeles but I've never had the pleasure and can't wait to see chicks. Doves have tried nesting in my hanging baskets before but with an active Hummingbird feeder and my watering I think I've scared them away. This winter I took the Hummingbird feeder down and had not replaced it yet.

My research on the internet indicates 14 days before hatching and then a couple of weeks until the chicks leave the nest. Will I hear peeping because I think the eggs should have hatched by now. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, would love to hear your thoughts about what stage we are in so I can anticipate replacing my Hummingbird feeder. I love to have the Hummingbirds flying around.

[vintagejuls]

What, no one has ever had doves in their yard?

Well, I think maybe she's sitting on the babies. I'm contemplating getting on a stool to see if I can see anything under her.

There was a 2nd pair building a nest in my Wisteria this morning but my lawn sprinkler scared them away. Just as well since their nest didn't seem too sturdy.

Would love to hear thoughts from anyone...

[vintagejuls]

This morning from my bedroom I saw movement in the basket. With my binoculars, I saw the babies with mouths opened wide for mom to feed. It's so exciting! Yipee.

I'm so happy because I didn't want mama dove sitting on unhatchable eggs; although, I guess mother nature would have let her know.

If I can get close enough to take a pic without scaring her, I will. She (and or he; they rotate sitting with babies) is quite brave because I have been very busy in the yard and on the patio these past few weeks.

Happy Birthday doves!

[cynthia_h]

This sounds terrific!

The closest I've ever lived to mourning doves was in 1993/94. I was living with a girlfriend in a rented house, and a colony of doves would fly in every evening onto the garage roof, which had passion-flower vines on it. She and I would hear them cooing, but due to the plants and the angle of the house vs. garage, could almost never see them except in flight.

There have to have been nests up there, but we had no way of getting to the garage roof to see them or any babies.

So "your" babies hatched (most likely) on Sunday, May 3?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[vintagejuls]

Hi Cynthia,

Yes, I don't really know for certain; thought I would hear an abundance of chirping like the sparrows do... but the doves are real quiet. They must have hatched sometime this weekend. Small enough to still fit under mom but big enough to pop up their heads for feeding. I'll try and get a pic today or tomorrow.

This is exciting since I'm in the burbs and wildlife is scarce. However, we do get quite a variety of birds - even an occassional Red Tail Hawk and Osprey; from time to time a squirrel runs across the telephone lines and the opposum eat our snails! Near the golf courses, fox, skunk and racoon are prevalent.

[cynthia_h]

Those baby birds sound absolutely adorable! (which is a word I generally don't use, but what else can I say about just-hatched baby doves???)

If you can get a picture, great, but please don't put yourself or the Mama Dove's peace of mind at risk. I'm sure lots of us have a terrific, idyllic scene in mind from your well-written descriptions!

Cynthia

[applestar]

That's so neat that they decided to nest so close! I've heard of house finches nesting in a hanging basket, and my MIL has mourning doves nesting on the top of the porch columns every year, so I guess they're not as fearful as you might think. As the name suggests, their feathers are non-descript and quiet, but actually, the male, especially in the sun, has some startlingly beautiful markings.

In my garden, mourning doves (same ones?) nest every year on top of the weeping cherry. There is apparently a perfect spot where all the weeping branches radiate out. I've never tried to look at the nest, and the doves always look so startled (it's the way they look, I think) peeking over the top of the nest, that I generally just tip-toe around. This year, there is a dead branch that needed to be pruned, but I missed my chance, and the doves are sitting there already.

If I remember rightly, their chicks are not as noisy as say the house wrens or house sparrows. But when they're a bit older, they do make a racket every time they're being fed. Even in my Zone 6b area, the doves usually raise 3 sets of babies every year. So I don't know... maybe you could move the hanging pot in an out-of-the-way spot after the first babies have fledged?

[vintagejuls]

Here are some pics of Dove and babies.







Thank goodness for ZOOM! The chicks are tucked under her breast.. so cute.





I stood on a stool for the closeups and used a zoom. The others are taken from my lawn just to give you an idea of how close the Doves are to my house and don't seem to mind the activity of gardening, lawn mowing, watering, dog chasing and barking at the mailmain (Rotties don't bark unnecessarily though), BBQing; they have been quite brave. Who knew!

As the chicks become fledglings, I'll try to get some more pics to share.

[cynthia_h]

Great shots. Wow, Momma Dove *is* quite placid, being so close to a house. And the babies are sooooo tiny. Well, I've never seen dove eggs, so didn't have a concept of how small/large they are to start.

Just little bitty balls of fluff.

Cynthia

[vintagejuls]

Thanks Cynthia. Yes, little bitty balls of fluff.

It's been fun and interesting tracking this dove family.

applestar, you are right, doves just naturally look startled... I haven't heard from them yet that I've noticed. It seems as though Spring is in full bloom... with all the bird noises a round.

The 2nd pair of doves continued to build a nest in my Wisteria but I think my neighbors cat has scared them away. Something jumped over my fence when I approached the back of the yard; from time to time I've spotted my neighbors cat crouched down in the back corner watching all the bird activity. I usually have feeders there but not yet this year; planning to wait until the doves are fledglings so as not to scare the adults into abandoning the nest with so much activity from other birds.





Wisteria in back corner about 15-20' from patio with active dove nest

[vintagejuls]

Look what's happening now. This is daddy dove; he stays with them during the day.


Morning feeding - view from the house


Look how they've grown!


Too big for dad to sit on.

I hope to get some more pics before they leave the nest.

Oh, and I don't think the plant in the basket is long for this world since I haven't been able to water it for over a month now. oh, well...

[vintagejuls]

Mother's Day was wonderful seeing the babies with more smooth feathers ~



But Monday morning was a different story; it turned out to be quite eventful - fledgling began and I wasn't ready... This is what I found when I went to check on the Doves:



This little guy was all alone in the 'basket nest' and nowhere in sight were any other doves. I checked all around the yard - no doves and no sign of doves. hmmmmmm

Well, eventually I heard cooing and mama returned to feed. Then later daddy relieved mama but I was still concerned about the other baby.

Around 2pm, I noticed a baby in my flowerbed and contemplated catching it and returning it to the nest. My sense was better let mother nature take it's course; didn't want to interfere and possibly upset the other baby in the nest. Then within minutes mama was in the flowerbed with baby... whew About an hour later while baby #2 is still in the nest, I see mama and baby #1 up on the telephone lines! Clearly, baby #1 is in great shape for it's maiden voyage. Baby #1 sat up there alone for over an hour.

A short while later, baby #1 and mama are back in my yard. My guess is trying to get back in the nest but baby #2 felt left out and joined them on the ground. Mind you it's after 5pm now; time to get ready for bed.



Unfortunately, something startled them into my Wisteria and then the neighbors cat caught wind of the activity and crashed the party. The baby doves went flying onto my other neighbors patio with mama close behind. Sadly, that's where they are now... I guess. Hopefully, they will make it through the night. At least they didn't land in the yard of the neighbors cat but she does prowl around.

Stay tuned ...

[cynthia_h]

Wow! They're getting big very quickly! 8 to 10 days old and fledging already...

I hope they made it safely back to the nest sometime during the night.

Cynthia

[vintagejuls]

Good news ~ 1 baby made it through the night out of the nest. It was in my yard this morning. This afternoon there isn't any sign of any babies. I believe the end of the story is here and the doves lived happily ever after. They're just out there doing what doves do...

Now, out to hang my hummingbird feeder...

[vintagejuls]

We should have a 2nd brood this weekend.

I discovered 2 eggs in the same basket with a new nest built by the same pair of doves on May 16th. And that was the first day mama dove had not moved from the nest for 24 hours - so I'm counting that as day 1. My plan is to leave them alone more - less picture taking so they can parent even better this time. Not that they didn't before but I'm not sure the babies made it; although, no evidence to suggest their demise...