My Galveston Mourning Dove Experience

by Anna Claire Bayles
(Galveston, Texas)

A few weeks ago I found a baby mourning dove by my home.

It was a tiny little thing blown from its nest I assume. The seagulls and Boat-Tailed Grackles were just about to swarm it so I took it in.

I made a cage for it and began feeding it bird seed and water. It has grown fast and is doing quite well.

Funny part is, as it began to learn to fly it follows me! Even when I ride my bike it tries to follow me.

He can now fly on his own but returns to my porch since I sometimes leave seed out for it. Very sweet little bird too!

Hope it makes it and survives.

Thanks Claire!

What blessings Doves Are!

by Susie
(SJ, CA)

We love our visiting doves. This has been going on annually since we moved in 2012. This is a three generation picture taken this 2014 season. Each year they build a new flimsy nest in the same place.

All of a sudden, a little tail or two will be hanging above the nest.

Then, they'll leave the nest to learn to fly. Momma and Pappa tend to all fly off together beginning with ground lessons. Once they leave the nest, they don't return until next year.

Just As last year, the little ones appear to be learning what the ground feels like, air surrounding them now that they're not protected by the walls of the nest or their parent's body. They may be there for a couple of hours or more.

I attached another picture of them finding protection of the rocks we just had delivered in our yard.

I'll journal on paper for next years visit. So fun to witness! :0)

Doves in a Fairy Garden Pot

by Julia Moss
(Greer, SC)

My four year old granddaughter and I made a fairy garden in a pot on my deck. It is on a stand that is approximately four feet tall.

It consists of soil and twigs for a fairy home covered in moss. She sprinkled small pebbles and gravel in the pot as well. The doves made a very sparse nest of small twigs and laid their eggs.

They have been incubating for about two weeks now. This is right in front of a window in our great room so we have been able to watch the entire process.

They do not scare when we barbecue on the deck or use that exit. We act as if they are not there when in our small backyard and deck. They do not seem disturbed.

This has been a wonderful learning experience for all. My granddaughter peeks out the window every morning to check on the doves.

She is particularly happy that they used her fairy garden as their nesting area.

The adults, my elderly mother and my friends can't believe that they have continued to nest there.

This has brought my mother happiness in her last years. It's as if these doves have become part of our extended family. We are anxious to observe this whole process.

Doves in hanging basket, now parents!

by Margaret
(Millersburg Ohio)

I was about to take down my old hanging baskets from last year when I noticed a dove sitting in it. Not long after there were 2 eggs. Then came 2 chicks. Very interesting to watch. Waiting to see what happens next! Hope the babies make it. We live right in town so I hope they do.

Lucky Me

by Frank
(Los Angeles, CA, USA)

I have a visitor. About a week or ten days ago as I walked to my kitchen window out of the corner of my eye I would notice a grey bird fly off from perhaps the window sill.

I figured that there might be a nest nearby. Well sure enough there it was, not more than six feet from the window and I would guess about 20' off the ground.

The mourning dove does not seem to be frightened. For about 2 to 4 days the dove seemed to stay in the nest and to be honest seemed a little fatigued.

Well yesterday I noticed 2 white eggs in the nest and the dove was gone. I'm sure that she needed to eat. Now she seems to be spending all of her time on the eggs.

I am taking a dozen or so pictures every day and am excited to watch the goings on.

Hanging Pot Nester?

by Merita Blanchet
(Pensacola , Fl USA)

Just wanted to share my photo I just took today. Surprised to see a dove sitting in my front porch hanging planter.

My front door is only about 7 feet from the planter so I hope we do not scare it off.

Not certain if it has eggs already in there or not as I just saw the two of them appear to be mating two days prior.

Afraid to get too close to see what is going on in the pot lol.. Is it time for them to be laying eggs? 4/17/2016

They can nest as early as February in your area

Walter Pigeon Dove

by Don
(Ahwatukee, AZ, USA)

A couple weeks ago I was working in the garage and I heard a commotion on the sidewalk. I walked out to find a baby bird being pecked at by what I thought was a Pigeon.

It looked like it had probably fallen out of a 30 foot Palm tree. expecting it to be dead because of the intense pecking of the adult bird, I walked up to it expecting to dispose of it.

To my surprise, it was alive and didn't seem to have any wounds. Totally expecting it to die during the night, I put it under a cardboard box at the side of the house.

First thing the next morning I went out to once again dispose of it and it was very much alive. Perplexed as to how to feed it I tried several things, but never did decide on what was right.

He was old enough that I thought if I could somehow keep it alive for a few days, it might get old enough to eat seed.

I finally settled on mixing bottled water with sugar and dipping a drinking straw into the water and forcing his beak into the end of the straw.

For several days this was the only nourishment I could figure to give it. Sugar water works for Humming Birds, so maybe it will work.

I finally located some baby bird food at Petsmart, but after getting it home and reading the directions, I returned it because according to the directions, Walter (initially thought he was a pigeon) was big enough to eat seed.

Way to late to make this a short story, but two weeks later and Walter is thriving. I put him in a cage that was originally for my daughters puppy.

I put some river rock and a lot of seed on the floor to get him used to foraging among the rocks for food.

Two days ago I opened the cage door to let him experience nature and he flew off for the cover of a Texas sage bush in the back yard.

After a little while I went looking for him and he was still under the bush. I put my hand down and he climbed on. I put him back in the cage.

Same thing the next day. This morning I opened the cage door and he took off for the tree next door.

Totally expecting him to take off for good, I went out to clean the cage a couple hours later and there was Walter on top of the cage.

Well, tonight Walter is in his cage, again, and tomorrow will continue with what I have been doing. He is a very sweet little guy.

Doves in Hanging Plant-Texas

by Heather
(Texas)

I noticed two doves in one of our hanging flower baskets one day. I love birds so this excited me!

Some time went on and I didn't think much of it (and I didn't see the birds again). My husband and I went on a trip and when we came home our house-sitter told us there was a bird in our basket outside of our bedroom window.

I did some research and learned about their nesting process and realized she/he must have some eggs in there. Our dogs were oblivious, thankfully.

And before we knew it there were two chicks in the nest. I watched them from afar and was so excited. I took this picture one day before a walk and when we came home they were gone.

There is a bird in the same basket again, I'm hoping they like it here! :)

Mourning Doves Swapping Off Domestic Duties

by Steve
(Houston, TX)

One morning, we woke up to cooing outside our bedroom window and when we went outside we saw two doves working on nest building on an electrical conduit.

A few days later there was only one, sitting on the new nest. It happened to be right next to one of our security cameras, so we turned the camera in that direction.

We got worried that "momma dove" was going to starve to death, so we bought some dove seed and put a water bowl near the nest.

Then we discovered that our worries were needless, having read your description of their mating habits. Our video confirmed what you reported.

The male dove steps off the nest in the morning. There is one egg. The female takes responsibility for the day shift. Apparently, however, we cannot upload video. So here is one still.

We hope to have more footage if there are any babies and we will share them with you.

Two questions. It appears that there were several hours with nobody on the nest at night. Because they are still "guarding the fort" is it safe to assume the egg is still viable?

The second question is why don't they use the readily available feeder which is about two feet down the conduit from them, but out of camera range? We'll keep you posted.

P.S. Can we upload this or other video? What video is too large? what resolution is preferable?

Dove Not Nesting in Winter.

by Joe
(Enfield, CT)

This past summer I noticed a pair of doves that nested in my cherry tree. The nest was loosely made with minimal twigs. They had two babies which grow extremely fast.

Shortly after they had another pair of babies. OK, while sitting on my back porch at night I noticed one dove sitting on a branch in the cherry.

Every night this same dove sits in my cherry tree, no nest, just sitting all night, then flies away in the morning.

It's been over a week, getting cold out (live in n.e.) is this normal not to build a nest for the winter. Puzzling!

Baby Doves in Plant

by Diana McGee
(Wheeling, WV)

What a great surprise I found when watering my hanging plant. 2 little eggs. Husband and I thoroughly enjoyed watching from the beginning until the nest was empty and the babies were in the yard with Mom.

Parents and Babies

by Gail Rose
(Irvine, California )

For many years we have had Mourning Doves nest in the hidden eaves above our front door.

We witness the male offer twigs to his mate, but she is very picky and the rejects are flung down below at our welcome mat.

I can see their nest when I climb the indoor stairs, usually one eye is visible too.

This area is safe from predators as the eave is protected and cannot be seen from surrounding trees or roofs.

A predator would have to fly straight up and backward sort of to reach the nests. Our MDs know how to maneuver this tight space.

It is messy for us but that's ok. This April, we had some construction work done inside our home, so I placed a sign on a he front door to be careful of our nesting birds.

When I came home the nest was scattered on the ground along with two broken eggs! I was so mad.

The contractors are gone now and I saw the pair had brought their family over to our backyard to visit us.

They were not concerned that we went out to harvest some fresh herbs from the garden underneath this fence.

I hope they come back to nest again next year.

Doves enforcing squatters rights?

by Monika
(Texas)

Coming to and from my house I was met with quite a surprise on my front porch; a mud nest. The nest was literally not there one day, there the next.

With a little research I discovered this was a swallow's nest; verified by a sighting soon after. I was able to peek in the nest and discovered four eggs.

A week or so later I came home to find three of the eggs broken/missing and only one remaining in the nest. The couple had departed as well. So very sad.

About a month or so later; out of curiosity I happened to look in the nest though there had been no signs of the couple.

I was shocked to discover four more eggs! Mom and dad never made an appearance but about a week later as I was leaving the house I was met with a dove atop the nest!

She looked at me, I looked at her; I found her to be quite bold considering the circumstances.

She provided no explanation as to why/when she moved in and most importantly, what became of the former residents (I say she as it became apparent with some time and research that the "calm" one was the female).

I noticed she was sitting rather high on the nest; the couple had installed new flooring so to speak. A nice layer of twigs.

I'm quite perplexed at this point and come home to find the nest unoccupied giving me the opportunity to take a peek. Two dove eggs!

The nesting material is deep and though I can't see under this newly installed layer, I suspect the swallows' eggs are under this layer; bit of an egg sandwich so to speak.

At this point we're getting to know each other. Dad has a more sensitive startle response; which lead to my own startle response, and ultimately to a sprained pinkie (that's another story but lucky for him, I don't carry a grudge).

I've been coming and going via the back door as much as I can in an effort to support a peaceful hatching experience and to minimize the risk of further abandonment. At some point I suspect I'll start taking this abandonment personally..

Regarding the previous couple, I have more questions than answers. Did they find themselves, as first time parents, overwhelmed by the prospect of raising four little ones?

Were they called away on an emergency leaving Mr. and Mrs. Dove in charge never suspecting they were the sort that would invoke squatters rights taking their home and abandoning their children only to raise their own?

I've grieved this loss and now focus on the impending arrival of two little fluffy lives. And lots of poop....

What a surprise!

by Denise
(New Mexico)

After being out of town in March we arrived home to find that a mourning Dove had built a tiny, fragile nest in a fake wreath by our front door.

After going out the door a couple of times and being startled by a bird flying so close to me I finally saw 2 eggs sitting in this nest.

After that we have not used the front door being fortunate to be able to come and go through our garage.

About 2 weeks ago we started to see the movement of a little chick. Mom was still staying pretty close. Then a second chick. Wow! They grew quickly!

We were away for 3 days this past week and came home to no birds in the nest. But now Mom is back and nesting again. I guess she is laying more eggs. It is quite an amazing thing!

A Second Family

by Susan
(San Jose, California)

We watched a pair of mourning doves build a nest in a hanging planter over our deck in late April. They were incubating their eggs when we left town for two weeks.

Just when we returned home I saw a pretty good sized baby bird on the deck. Within a few minutes it flew away. I wasn’t sure if it would be back or was gone for good, but I did not see it again.

Now, two weeks later mom and Dad are back on the nest. I didn’t really know anything about their nesting habits until I found your site this evening. Now it all makes sense.

At about 7:00 p.m. this evening we actually observed the shift change, which I had just read about. This photo was taken a few minutes ago, so I assume it is mom on the night shift.

I will add updates as our saga evolves.