Doves and Chicks in Hanging Basket

by Sue Smith
(Pflugerville, TX)

On May 15 of this year, I had a freak accident and broke my hip. This was inconvenient to say the least, as I am the principle care-taker for my Paraplegic and wheel-chair-bound husband.

I knew a grim task was ahead of me, especially since I was ALSO now assigned a wheelchair and/or walker with instructions to bear NO weight on my right leg.

Two days after I returned home from surgery, it seemed evident that Murphy's Law had surfaced rudely, beginning with the fact that I did not get a promised wheel chair until my third day home and had to BORROW my husband's wheelchair. One disaster happened after another,
and I just concluded that Murphy's Law was in control of this particular episode.

Nothing was going right, or everything was going wrong. You take your pick.

Until one day, I got diverted from a kitchen duty when I saw a Dove fly repeatedly into one of my four backyard hanging baskets. I wheeled away simply noting the fact that this was peculiar.

Next day I was staring out the window when I saw the Dove return, and of course the light bulb started blinking and I realized she was building a nest,

I kept a vigil, watching this process and started to feel excited for the first time since at least three days. Suddenly, my excitement was infused with "happy!".

What followed, interspersed with pains and difficult tasks, was more frequent trips to the window. Then as mobility began to happen, I KNEW I had to have photos.

It was very tricking lighting (I'm a retired professional photographer ) as it was very back-lit and I was shooting through the window with a telephoto lens.

I couldn't avoid some camera-shake and thus, photos are somewhat "soft", but I think that you can see the serenity that this beautiful event brought to a "downer type" of circumstance.

I consider the whole thing a gift from nature. To make things even better, as soon as the fledglings left (I would say that three days had passed), we have another completely different sitting on the nest, and she is most definitely NESTING.

Can't say that the last seven-plus weeks has had a rosy glow cast throughout each day, but I CAN say that one Dove and her two chicks brightened by life by a wide margin!

Doves in Hanging Basket

by Marianne
(Palmdale, CA)

We have had wonderful generations of a Dove family in this basket over and over again for the last three years. This is the fourth set of hatchlings and the neighborhood is just full of doves.

Apparently they love the location of the baskets which are just outside the front door and hidden from the elements.

We never plant the one basket so it is ready for them and try to keep the other one planted for shelter.

We keep a little cracked corn in the planted basket for them while they are sitting. We immediately stop using the front door when they arrive to allow them privacy and fewer interruptions.

It is just so much fun to watch the process. God Bless the faithful mother and father as they remain on their constant vigil. Shift change seems to be at around 5:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Our weather this year has been just crazy so they have had to protect the eggs from snow, 28 degrees up to and including 95 degrees and back again several times.

It has been a great experience - full of all the parenting joys and worries. It is sad to see them go but you always know they are somewhere nearby..... and you can hear them talking to you.

Doves Nest In Hanging Plant on Deck

Imagine my surprise when I started to water my hanging plant and a dove flew out! When first hanging the pot, I'd dropped it from the second floor and lost some of the soil. But this created an empty spot right in the center-perfect for the nest I found inside the next day.

The following day there was one perfect egg. Then a second followed.

Keeping the plant watered to maintain the lush foliage has been a challenge. Finding a moment without mommy or daddy has been impossible.

I assumed one left and the other "came on duty" until I happened to see a dove fly TO the nest without seeing a dove leave.

I looked and they were both in the pot!

At first, my attempts to water would frightened off the dove and I would soak the plant enough to last a couple days.

I kept going on the deck to sweep, water the other plants and move around their plant so they would get used to me. Now they allow me to water while in the nest!

I try my best to hide behind the leaves, stay low and pour slowly. They do watch me very closely with those bright shiny eyes!

The big day is near (1 or 2 more days) from what I’ve read. I can’t wait for the babies.

Hopefully I can get some pictures to remember this wonderful opportunity to see nature in action.

Pretty Nest In Hanging Plant

by OutWest
(San Mateo, CA )

We have a dove family forming on our front porch in a hanging geranium pot.

So far the birds fly off when we open the front door so we're trying to use the back door as much as possible.

I moved the pot higher up on the chain so they would feel a bit less visible when someone comes to the door, and today when I went out for the paper the nesting bird didn't take off. So I'm hoping they're getting used to some activity near the nest.

The eggs are so pretty I almost wish they wouldn't hatch! But it will be nice to see the babies.

A question for the more-experience dove hosts out there--is is possible to water the pot? I'm thinking of waiting for the bird to fly off and quickly putting a little bit of water into the plant every other day or so. It's getting pretty hot here and I don't want my plan to die.

Luckily it was watered right before the eggs were laid.

Doves In Hanging Flowers

by Christine
(West Allis, WI, USA)

My husband just finished redoing our porch in wood. To Celebrate, he bought me some nice colorful hanging flowers to decorate it. On memorial day this year, we hung them up on one side of the porch, but they were in the way because that was where we sit outside. So we hung them on the other side of the porch.

After about a week, I noticed that birds mourning doves were flying in and out of my flowers flattening them. At first i was a little upset, but they aren't perennials and were going to die after this summer anyway so I decided to let the birds have their fun.

I should explain that I have a 22lb. cat that is my baby and loves to go outside late at night and early morning. One night we were outside on the porch and he was definitely on the hunt for anything in his path.

First he caught a June bug which I immediately made him spit out, then he went to the other side of the porch. I thought nothing of it until I heard a rustling sound and the loud flapping and chirping.

I didn't get to see what exactly happened, but I do know that my cat scared a bird off the porch, maybe attacked it, and it flew into a nearby tree chirping loudly and rustling in the tree branches.

This scared me because I thought that my cat had injured this bird. That is the background of the story.

About two days after the incident with my cat, I was on the porch with my husband and my 1 1/2 year old son when we saw a mourning dove just sitting in tone of the hanging flower plant. My husband tried to shoo it away, but it would not budge.

We thought that maybe it was about to lay eggs, so my husband wanted to take a picture of it. He was successful, but 2 seconds after he snapped the pic, the dove flew away.

So I did not think it had nested. I looked in the flowers, and sure as shoot, there were 2 perfectly round white eggs. We felt so bad for disturbing this poor dove that we immediately took a pic and left it alone and forbid the cat from going outside.

The dove came back that night so I felt a lot better that it didn't abandon the eggs because of our negligence. But I have never seen the male and female switch places, and I am very worried that my cat may have killed one of them.

I looked around the tree it flew into that one night, but never found a body, so I am hoping that they are still both alive and watching the nest because I know that it is near impossible for the one bird to do it alone.

But every day I am on the porch talking to my dove and keeping a watchful eye on it. Hoping that I get to see two little baby doves soon with a happy mommy and daddy.

I am attaching the two photos we took that actually turned out fabulous considering they were taken with a camera phone. I hope to keep you updated when the eggs hatch.

Mourning Dove Nest In My Hanging Petunia

by Bernie Warren
(Fairfield Twsp Ohio)

Last month I had a Morning Dove decide to nest in my hanging petunia on my back deck.

I didn’t want her there restricting my deck usage, so I removed her nest; yet she came back the next day and built another. So I removed it again!

This time I filled the spot in the basket with a large dragon candle to discourage her once and for all.

However, she had other plans as she shoved the candle out of the basket, built another nest, and laid an egg by the time I came home from work on that third day!

We learned to coexist and she allowed me to water the other plants on my deck. Once, I got too close so she flew away and I could peek at her nest and saw that her egg had hatched into a beautiful chick! There was also a second egg that had not hatched which I thought best to remove.

Several weeks later I noticed that neither Momma nor Poppa Dove had been to the nest for several days and the chick, now considerably bigger, had been hiding in the petunias to get out of the glaring sun.

I was really worried they had abandoned her because of something I had done! I checked on her and she was quite annoyed with me.

I prayed and prayed that the parents would come back and finally got the nerve to look in on her and she had successfully flown the coup!!! I was so relieved and happy for her.

Later that evening, she came back and spent several hours sitting on the deck. I like to think she was telling me she was going to be ok!

Doves in Hanging Baskets

by Marianne
(Palmdale, CA)

This is the third time I have had Doves return to this one basket for nesting. There are always two eggs.

Initially they are very nervous should anyone come close, but they got much calmer and didn't fly off.

Here is one of many great pictures. I put a dish of food you suggested in the basket next to the one they have made a nest in and placed water close by.

I worry about them all the time but they are so much joy!!!

Doves nest in hanging plants

by Suzi
(Virgunia)

This is the third season that the mourning doves have mated and raised a brood on our front porch.

Now we know that our hanging flowers will be covered by nests. The last pair have raised 2 chicks and thrown them from the nest.

They cannot fly well yet but are adorable and fun to watch them learn.

Now they have nested in another hanging plant next to the old nest. They seem to trust us now.

Third Year Nesting In Hanging Plant

by Edwardine Baker
(Gilbertsville, PA)

For three years or more, as soon as I put my hanging pots out, I have a dove making a nest in it. Last year there were three nestings and out of the eggs, only four survived.

This year I heard the whistling of their wings and I said, guess you are waiting for me to hang out my hanging plant. Sure enough as soon as I did, they started building their nest. And as you say, it is a sparse nest material. Today we saw them exchange places. They are so trusting. I walk right by them and they just move their eyes, not their body. I feel they trust me.

Last year when one baby died, the parent worked and worked to throw the dead one out of the nest but the bird eventually succeeded. I felt so sorry for the parent but did not attempt to interfere as I was afraid she would abandon the other baby bird.

The doves seem to pick one or the other planters each year and sometimes the same and sometimes not. Last year one nested right at our front steps and never moved when people came in or out. What a privilege to be able to watch these gentle birds!