Mourning Doves nesting on my 3rd floor balcony

by Janell
(Washington, IL)

Balcony Doves

I had just gotten home from house sitting for a few days and noticed some stuff laying on my chairs on my balcony, I figured I would clean it off in the morning.

Well the next morning when I opened my shades there sat a female dove and in flew the male handing her a twig.

She placed it around her and they continued this for 2 days.

The following Tuesday evening I noticed there was an egg in the nest and the next morning there was another.

I didn't know much about mourning doves so I looked it up on the web and there I found out that it took 14 days before the eggs would hatch. Sure enough, to the days they hatched.

Unfortunately one of the babies didn't make it. It was a sad day! I have enjoyed watching this process!

I haven't been able to use my balcony, but I would give it up in a heart beat if it means that more mourning doves would use it to start a family. :)

Mourning Doves in Fountain

by Bill & Elsa d'Ellis
(Las Cruces, NM USA)

Mourning doves have built nests in what we thought to be very unusual places, such as on the step of a spiral staircase last year (where they raised two broods).

But, this year a couple has really surprised us!

They have built a nest in the top bowl of our water fountain.

We thought about stopping them, in that the nest is sure to drown as rain is forecast before the babies will leave the nest.

So...we decided to see if they would allow us to remodel their nest, by raising it enough that the bowl can drain, which we did by adding stones and pea gravel and some more sticks, and then setting their nest and the one egg mom has laid so far on top, with a few heavier sticks to hold it in place.

The photo we've included was taken only minutes after we finished our remodel.

I just looked again...it's been at least an hour now...and mom seems totally happy with our remodel!

Nesting Mourning Dove (Male)

by royalwa
(Baltimore, MD)

Found Dove had made a nest on my shelving unit on my front porch. Later found there was (1) one egg in nest, (now there are (2) two).

I was worried about HER not eating, until I learned, from this web site that there are 2 of them tending the nest.

I needed to snap a picture so I could compare it on the internet to find out what kind of Dove it was and what it ate.



The (as I learned) Male was getting used to me and let me get very close.

Thanks to zoom on my digital camera I was able to snap these pictures before he flew away.

I rechecked later and he came back. After reading this site I was afraid he might not. Phew!

I will continue to watch them, at a distance, and snap a few shots of the babies.

I'm going to put bird seed on the ground right off the edge of my porch and hopefully this will help them to stay close to the nest.



There are squirrels, foxes, groundhogs and pigeons and unfortunately pigeon hawks mostly in my neighbors yard (she feeds them all) except for the squirrels (she has no trees in her yard) they eat in her yard and live in mine.



Hope everyone enjoys these photos as much as I do.

I Named Her Sweetness

by Patricia
(Orlando, Florida)

One day I was watering the topiaries on my front patio when all of a sudden I noticed that there was a mourning dove nestling in my lion's head wall fountain!

That was three weeks ago; it appears that she hasn't left the nest at all. Then I read that Mama & Papa doves share the nesting responsibility. Makes sense.

Yesterday afternoon my brother-in-law looked out the front window, which has a perfect view of the fountain, & noticed that the dove had left the nest.

He looked in the nest and said, "There aren't any eggs there!" I said "WHAT?!" & jumped up to go look. He laughed & added, "There are little babies in there!"

I was so happy, I ran to get a stool to give me more height because I'm not as tall as Neil, & yep, there they were, two or three all huddled together.

Then she (or he) came back & got right back on top of those babies.

I'll have to take more fotos when they get a little bigger. They really don't mind me looking at them; I just tell everyone not to touch. I'm so excited!

The fountain pump doesn't work anymore, & I wanted to ask Neil to install a new one for me while he visits, but that's out of the question now.

It really is a safe place for the birds to nest. These are my favorite birds; I love their mournful call.

Visitation

by Mary
(Minneapolis, MN USA)

I buried my mother yesterday. She and My dad mated for life, and she loved him so much and grieved so for him when he died.

I have been taking care of her for 4 years after she'd been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

This morning, I woke up to the most soothing sound of doves cooing. I don't generally hear them in this busy neighborhood.

Went into the living room and saw two doves, sitting on a brick ledge just outside the window area (screen is off because we have hung a bird feeder there and need access to it.)

I laid on my sofa and watched them all day, bringing twigs to the corner. Their coos were so comforting. They suddenly left at 3:30 p.m.

I can't help but think it's my mom and dad, here to tell me they are winging free, together, and to give me some peace.

I hope they come back tomorrow.

Mourning Dove in my Candle

by Jayson
(Grayslake il)

Hello,
My Name is Jayson and I am 8 years old and I have discovered I have a Morning Dove sitting in my moms candle on my back porch.

I have been calling her "Shelia" for about two weeks now only to find out by reading the above article that shelia is only shelia at night, and now have decided to call "it" Steve during the day.

I never knew that my day time bird was playing tricks on me and thought it was the same one this entire time, I was actually starting to worry that she/he was going to starve to death cause he/she never moved...

Glad Shelia/Steve has found a happy home to nest her eggs and we can experience this miracle with her/him.

Its a very neat thing to see right before my eyes and am glad I can share my story with you.

Jayson

Mourning Dove Lands On My Shoulder

by Lora Hull
(Overland Park, Kansas)

I was outside on my deck one morning and a bird landed right beside me. I put out my hand and he climbed on it.

After a few minutes I put him back on the deck ledge and then he flew onto my shoulder.

I found out later when I took a picture and brought them to work that it was a young mourning dove.

Now he comes back every night to eat and drink.

I've never had anything like this happen in my life! He is truly a character!

Dive Bombing Dove

by Dot Sale
(Belmont, Ontario, Canada)

My friend and neighbor up the road has an evergreen in her front yard close to the house.

One morning her husband was doing some gardening around the tree and was suddenly dive bombed by a mourning dove.

The bird crashed into him, then fell to the ground flopping around like it had broken its wing.

My friend's husband couldn't figure out what was going on and called his wife.

When they looked closely at the tree, about 5 feet above the ground in an indentation in the branches they discovered a mourning dove nest with two young birds inside it.

Once they realized this, they kept a discrete, but watchful eye on it as they have a cat at their house.

The babies have since moved on, but it is obviously the perfect nest as the parents are back at it again taking turns sitting on the nest.

My neighbors are very much bird lovers with lots of places for wrens nests in their backyard, and they are delighted to be godparents of doves now too.

Doves Nesting In Eaves

by Kathy
(Toledo, OH)

We have a pair of doves that have set up a nest in the eaves. It is so soothing to hear them coo.

They are both the same coloring with the familiar spots on their wings and white edging around their tail feathers.

They're a beautiful contrast of colors with the upper body and wings almost a charcoal gray and the white breast.

When not on the nest in the eaves, they sit in the crabapple tree right next to the eaves. They stay in the tree quite a bit because we are constantly hosing off the droppings on the sidewalk underneath the tree!

The tree and eves are just outside our office/den windows, so we have been lucky enough to watch them the whole time (or maybe they're watching us).

We have a row of shrubs underneath the eaves and a patch of grass between our condo and the unit next to us, so it's a fairly protected area that gets quite warm in the summer months.

We'd like to offer them additional food, so may buy some white and red proso millet, oil-type sunflower seeds, and cracked corn.

Sometimes they both sit on the nest together, but we haven't seen any babies yet. We just had part of our roof replaced and the roofers were there two separate days.

They left the nest when the roofers were working, but returned when the roofers were finished. We're happy it didn't cause the doves to abandon the nest.

We live in northwest Ohio, and spring is a beautiful time of renewal, so it's great to see these birds begin raising their families.

If we're lucky, we'll see this more than once during the season. A picture of the doves in the crabapple tree is attached.

doves in my potted plant box on bbq

by J. Wile
(Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)

Well I was surprised to see morning doves making a nest in a potted plant on my BBQ this afternoon.

I watched the making of the nest for 20 min by two doves and now one of them is sitting on it.

My BBQ will not get used until the birds have grown up and gone lol I will keep you updated as things happen.

This is by my door and this morning I had to get into my house and the dove did not move, it is about 5 feet from the door.

I even may have to use the other door to come and go from my house. Anyway, wanted to share these pics and story with you.

I am in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

A Strange Place For A Nest

by Fran
(PA)

I have a dove's nest on the top, glass shelf of a baker's rack that is on my back porch. It's nestled between a wicker basket of sorts and a painted, wooden giraffe.

The dove pair originally tried to build the nest on the top of my air conditioner on the same porch but the twigs kept falling to the chair below (or perhaps the female rejected them?)

My porch is surrounded on all sides by bamboo blinds which I think could be why it was chosen. It's safe and protected from the elements.

I think it's been 2-3 weeks now and I haven't seen any babies, however, the nest is never unattended.

I'm worried that should there be babies, they will fall to their death as anything under the glass shelf is either more glass shelves or slate shelves.

Any suggestions?