Patio Nesting Doves

by James
(Sacramento, CA, USA)

Recent high winds blew part of our patio cover off.

We have had mourning doves in our yard in the past but they never nested where we could see them.

A family of doves found an area next to our outside fan that was exposed due to the wind partly blowing the cover off that area.

They tried to buld a nest but the place they were using was too narrow. After several days of sweeping up twigs I decided to put up some wire between two rafters that were about four inches apart.

This worked fine as the doves were able to build their nest on the wire. After about 4 weeks a baby dove flew away.

Thinking this was the end I waited about a week and was going to take the nest down so the covering would be repaired but the doves had laid another egg and were nesting in the same nest.

So now we are waiting for another 4 weeks before the repairs can be made.

Our 4 year old grand daughter is enjoying watching the doves which do not seem to mind her playing on the patio underneath the nest as long as she does not play to loud.