3rd Round This Summer

by Lorraine
(Massachusetts)

Hi again!

This is the 3rd round of babies to arrive since May. The first time around we didn't see the parents switching places on the nest, but since then we have seen the parents change their shifts of sitting on the nest.

It seems that the dad is thinner than the mom or has a longer neck?

It is amazing how they will not leave the nest once the eggs are ready to hatch and when the babies are born. Before the eggs hatch, they do fly off when we leave the house.

The nest is just a foot from our den window and about 2 feet from the front door in my hanging plant. I thought by now they would be have become accustomed to us. Sometimes I'll leave a little pan of water for them but not sure if they use it or not.

I wonder if they will come back next year? Here is a photo of babies # 5 & 6 :-)

Baby Doves: First Set

I started noticing twigs all over in a corner above our front door. I kept sweeping them away only to discover more the next day.

Why I looked up I don't know, but there sat a beautiful dove. So my husband and I started watching. Checked out the internet on their habits. Watched for the babies. Low and behold one day I noticed a couple of little heads.

Soon they started getting larger until one day I just stood there and one flew away. I was saddened to think the one was left by itself, not for long. Probably the next day the other flew off.

So before long, here they came again. Going through the same ritual. Today 2 little doves are getting ready to fly away. I am not a bird watcher but this has been a beautiful experience.

Bird Feeder Nest

by Pamela
(Midvale, UT, USA)

My husband and I have a small enclosed backyard, quite safe from roaming critters (except my harmless Maltese, "Ivan"). For the past few summers, a pair of doves come to sit on our back fence each morning.

Last spring, a pair of doves nested in the "dead-end" of one of our rain gutters. The doves sat on their nest through the wind, rain and weather. Since the nest was out of our sight, I don't know if they successfully reared fledglings.

I have an old, covered, weather-beaten bird feeder that I fill each summer. In mid-April, I noticed it had an occupant...a mourning dove!

Perhaps it is the same pair as last year, but this year they have nested in a "sheltered" facility. It is a good thing, since this spring has been especially wet, windy and cold.

We call the parents, "Margaret and Thomas" from the BBC series characters of "Lark Rise to Candleford." ("Margaret," the dove reminds me of "Margaret Brown.")

They don't seem to mind my photo sessions (of them) and gardening in the yard below them. We have been treated with a great view of the nest and are able to keep an eye on the parents and chicks.

The feeder is only about 10 feet from our back door and 7 feet off the ground. This has been our first experience with nesting mourning doves; it's fun and pretty exciting.

At Home In the Pines

by Karen Barchent
(Findlay, Ohio)

The giant pine trees in our front yard have been a haven for many of nature's creatures over the years, and August, 2009 was no exception. I retired several months ago, so I have had the wonderful opportunity to be more observant of God's Beauty right in my own yard.

I recently joked to my friends that it must be a sure sign of getting old, because the highlight of my Labor Day Weekend this year was video taping a nest of mourning doves!

It wasn't much of a nest. It was merely a few twigs which had been tossed together in an almost disorderly fashion, and placed on a large branch just above my eye level; however, the location could not have been better for bird-watching.

For days, my four-year old niece and I were able to sit on the couch in front of the living room picture window to watch as the entire process unfolded before us.

Occasionally, I walked out to the nest, eager to get that "perfect photo", and the parents didn't seem to mind at all that I was so close to their nest.

We marveled at the speed in which those little babies matured once the eggs hatched! One day they were just a little puff of down, and just a few short days later, their little heads popped up, their dark eyes darting here and there, eager to take in the world.

It actually took a bit of time to convince my niece's mother that they were, indeed, the same baby doves, when she saw them after a four day lapse in time.

I was practically paranoid that I might miss something. Every morning, I checked the nest, then quickly pressed "record" on the camcorder which I had carefully placed on a tripod at the picture window.

How "interesting" ~ about 3 boring video hours of two baby birds sitting in a nest sleeping, surrounded by summer insects; the buzz of cicadas in the humming in the background. Wow.

I did get some rather nice clips of them feeding, though, and eventually they began to stretch and spread out their wings, as if to test their purpose in their lives.

One morning, on about day 12, I delayed my recording process for some reason, and in that half-hour span of time, you guessed it ~ they left the nest. How disappointing!

However, my husband quickly found them both amongst the flowers surrounding the front porch, and I was able to get some nice film footage and photographs before they left. Unfortunately, I have not seen them since that day, but I am sure they are fine.

I have a group of about 20 sequential photos of these beautiful feathered friends. You can find them at http://photos.creationsbyklb.com They are in the folder, "Bird Watching." Enjoy!

More Babies!

by Lorraine
(Massachusetts)

Hi - the first set of babies flew away in about a week's time. We coudn't see them at first and then started seeing feathers underneath the parents. The parents seem to puff up to cover the babies when they are hatched.

After a couple of days we started to see their faces, and then they were out from under the parents. My goodness they grow fast!!! In about a week they huge and flew away.

But less then a week later, there were 2 more eggs! I don't know if it's the same birds or different birds. The nest is really close to our front door and the parents tend to fly away before the babies are hatched but once they hatch, the parents don't move from the nest.

But the same thing, eggs hatched in about 2 weeks, and the 2nd set of babies are now here! So much fun!

Chicks about to Fledge

by Janice
(Virginia Beach, Va.)

These mourning doves have been such a joy but now they have grown so that the joy is leaving by this weekend.

I have written before about my new found friends so will leave that and just give you the picture that I took this past evening.

Baby Birds Born In Hanging Pot Plant

by Daniel
(Sacramento CA)

A few weeks ago while cleaning up my back patio and watering some plants, I came across a mourning dove's nest that had appeared inside one of my hanging pots.

I almost watered the nest but not before I discovered two tiny white eggs laying there. At first I was not sure what to do so I called over my mom and brother so they could also see the nest.

Afterwards I took it upon myself to learn what kind of bird had nested in my back patio. I found out a lot of information about the behavior and living style of these incredible animals that made there home in one of my hanging pot plants.

So over the few days reading article after article about these birds trying to find the best way to take care of these birds I decided the best way to do so was to keep a watch out on the nest, limit my time on the patio so the family could develop in a natural way.

One of the greater challenges was making sure the neighbors cats would not terrorized the poor little creatures. Since I live in a apartment complex surrounded by cat & dog owners I had to make sure that the nest was safely guarded.

I went and bought a spray bottle and just kept watch from the windows, it's the only thing I could do.

After about a week & half since discovering the nest the eggs hatched into two cute little birds. I discovered this while chasing away a cat from my patio. I went and checked the nest to make sure everything was alright since the dad bird was chased away by the cat.

There sat two little baby birds, I have never been this close to something like this. I knew I had to keep more watch over the nest now that they have hatched but again I could only watch the nest and make sure no dangers were sneaking around.

Then a few rainy days came along and it was sad watching the family of birds who were perched on my back patio get wet, but the dad bird covered the little ones making sure that he was the only one to get wet not the little ones. I sat there smiling as I watched this incredible sight unfold.

I woke up today( June 30 2011) to find out the whole family flew off to start there second part of parenting.

Something I actually wanted to see for myself but missed. I'm saddened by the fact that the little bird family that I have kept watch over for these past 3 or 4 weeks had finally left my back patio.

They became quit popular around my little apartment where the neighbors little one's would stop by an ask if they could see the nest themselves.

So I'm not the only one saddened by the leaving of them even my friends on facebook have some what of a sad face on about this since I was sharing picture's I had taken of the development of the nest.

We all learned a lot from this event that I never knew about mourning doves before. I'm glad to see that the family of birds that called my hanging pot plant in my back a patio home for almost a month are now out there living their little lives.

I plus many others got to witness this feat of nature that took place.

I hope they come back next year.

Baby Doves On Adirondack Chair

by Elizabeth Barber
(Halton Hills, Ontario)

The nest for these doves must be in our garden somewhere and the parents are no longer around. We feed them daily.

Baby Mourning Doves

by Natalie Petersen
(New London, MN)

I had submitted a story with photograph yesterday that showed a Mourning Dove male sitting on the nest with a baby. I had indicated that I would love to see if there were indeed more babies in the nest.

That opportunity presented itself later in the day, when while walking through my yard, the male flew off the nest.

I noticed then and there that two babies were in the nest! I was excited, to say the least.

I ran into the house to grab my camera and took this photo of the babies without the parent present. I think it's a good thing I did, as I don't think they will be in the nest much longer.

I will be anxious to see if the nest is re-used this season, as I've read that sometimes it can be.

Mysterious nest raid

by Cory
(San Diego, CA)

Greetings. We are proud to say we have fledged many, many chicks from our yard over the years, which of course means we have also seen many nests raided and the babies snatched away.

We have always assumed the culprits were cats or rats since the scene involved major disruption of the nest and feathers everywhere -- and indeed it may have been such predators -- but over the years we have in fact discovered that other bird species are the most likely culprits.

Crows often prowl our yard, and we were shocked (and amazed and even somewhat delighted as birdwatchers) when we witnessed a coopers hawk swoop in one day and inspect everything (no nests then).

Then, about a year ago, I observed another dove -- of all things -- brutally harassing another parent dove doing its best to sit on its nest and tend its babies.

The attacking dove stood on the nesting doves back and ripped feathers from it until the mate returned and fought off the aggressor. This made me wonder if anyone has ever seen another dove raid a nest and carry off or kill the babies. Anyone?

Then this: Last week we had a pair with very young chicks on a nest they had used already this season to fledge two broods successfully.

The nest is supremely concealed, about three feet off the ground in a flower pot mounted on a low fence.

It cannot be seen from above or on three sides, covered by many low hanging branches and boughs, but it was an ideal place for our observation; we often sat on a bench just three feet away, where the parents and chicks calmly tolerated us.

Unfortunately we awakened on Saturday to find the chicks gone… but there was no disturbance to the nest at all -- no feathers, no down, not a twig out of place -- and there was no disturbance to the surrounding foliage or groundcover of any kind.

Though in past years we have seen cats and even rats on patrol, that’s been so very long ago we discount the possibility this time, especially in light of the fact that there was not a twig out of place.

The one thing my sharp-eyed wife did find on the ground was the two crops or livers of the babies, as clean as if they’d been removed by a surgeon and washed for research -- but not another bit of debris or carnage or disruption of any kind.

So my question: Have any of you ever witnessed or learned of such a raid conducted by other mourning doves?…

Of course we are skeptical, and of course it’s natural to assume another form of predation, but the scene is so perfectly intact -- as if the parents and babies had simply flown away by choice (minus the crops/livers) that we just can’t figure it out.

We’ve set our trusty traps for rats (catch-and-release, of course), and we keep our eyes peeled for cats (even our neighbors say they haven’t seen one around in years), and we are confident no larger bird can detect the nest, but we are open to all suggestions, especially from anyone who’s had a similar situation.

Thanks!

Doves Giving Me An Education!

by Michael Berry
(Salinas, CA)

We came back from a vacation, and was catching up on the yard watering when we discovered a dove nesting in one of our wall mount planters.

We watched for about 16 days, with the "changing of the guards" each 12 hour period. Two eggs produced two babies.

The babies grew up very fast, flying out of the nest after about 8 days! They were in the yard on and off for about 5 more days, then headed out.

Now the mom is back in the same nest with one more egg. Such fun watching.

Dove nest in South Florida

by Ria
(Tamarac, South Florida)

Mourning doves nested in a Sabal Palm tree right outside our second floor office window. The female picked a great spot facing our window and sheltered by the building and the fronds of the palm tree. It was shady and out of sight from predators.

We had a perfect view of the birds and their chicks. I took pictures every weekday as we watched the little family grow. We were able to observe the parents switching positions on the nest each morning and the female providing food to the chicks from her mouth. While one parent was on the nest, the other was perched on a nearly light pole keeping guard.

At first we saw only one eggshell and one chick, but it soon was apparent that the second chick was just hidden a little from view. The two chicks grew so fast right before our eyes and after a while, they barely fit in the nest. We came into the office one Monday morning to find the chicks gone and the female preparing the nest for a new brood just a few days later.

I had started feeding a pair of doves in the parking lot about a year and a half ago. One of my co-workers also feeds them.

They have gotten to know me and they fly down to my car when I pull in my spot in the morning. They also spot me when I come out of the building before I get near my car and fly down in front of my feet.

I feed them black oil sunflower seeds and they now let me get really close to them during feeding.

We believe that the nesting doves are the same ones we feed. I noticed that only one dove at a time was feeding in the morning just about the same time the nest was built.

At first I was concerned to see only one dove, but then it made me happy to know that our little mated pair was still together and well and raising a family.

My Mourning Dovee

by Barbara
(Prosperity, SC)

Several weeks ago I came across a baby mourning dove in my backyard. The neighbors dog was after it but I grabbed it just in time. I brought the dove in the house, and began nurturing it.

I fed it baby bird food with an eye dropper and then I was feeding it from my hand and the bird thrived to the point of eating out of my hands and also between my fingers.

All the time, I would talk to my lil dovee and it would shake it's tail and coo as though it knew what I was saying.

I kept it in a bird cage with water and seed, but continued hand feeding it 2 to 3 times a day.

Then came the day that I dreaded, I knew it wanted to leave. I brought it outside and at first it didn't want to leave, but eventually the baby dove took flight to a tree that was close by.

That was about 3 days ago. Every day since, the dove has returned to eat bird seed that I have in the back yard for all the birds.

This morning was the best, the dove flew up on the railing of my deck while I was having my morning coffee. When I approached it and spoke, it flapped it's wings and cooed as if it still knew what I was saying.

My husband, in disbelief, ran and got the camera and took a few pictures that I've posted to share with everyone out there.