Moms Doves
Mourning Dove
I received a phone call from my mother the other day about this brown bird who was nesting in her old bird feeder!! She explained how these Blue Jays were bothering the mother but she appeared to be holding her own. I never expected from her description that the bird would turn out to be a Mourning Dove!!!
Mourning Dove sitting on her nest.
The Mourning Dove did allowed me to capture a few up-close pictures before finally fleeing away . . . I held my point-and-shoot camera up and captured a few quick pictures of the eggs! Mourning Doves are not the most creative in nest building and as you can see from this photo that the Mourning Dove eggs have a tradition of falling out of the nest.
Mourning Dove Eggs
I had planned on photographing the babies before posting these pictures but mom called the other day to report “the mother isn’t sitting on the nest anymore . . . . what do you think happened??”! I am going to assume that just maybe those Blue Jays decided to pay another visit!
 Subscribe to Mon@rch |
All Rights Reserved ©2006-2008 |
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 
Such precious, sensitive looking birds. Thanks for sharing this story and photos with us.
18 May 2008 at 12:34 am
It breaks my heart when I see or hear of a bird leaving their nest because another bird attacks them. We are all saddened here about our Pi nesting eagles. They lost the eggs due to some rogue eagles. They have abandoned the nest now.
18 May 2008 at 6:11 am
Very cool photos, but too bad the mother isn’t sitting on her eggs anymore, wah!
18 May 2008 at 7:06 am
Great pictures of the MODO. You even captured some of the irredesence of its feathers. I bet every bird that used to feed there came to check out the action at the feeder. Maybe it was too much company for the mom. Maybe even a racoon came to see what kind of treats were being offered.
18 May 2008 at 7:51 am
They are the funniest things…. just plop their eggs anywhere as long as they are surrounded by a few sticks!
18 May 2008 at 8:08 am
Tom- Very wonderful images, so crisp and clear.
I really don’t know birds eggs at all, but I’m surprised how white these are, they really, really, really stick out, not camouflaged whatsoever.
Tom
18 May 2008 at 9:43 am
She sure didn’t pick the best nest site – guess Mother Mourning Dove will have to choose a better spot and start all over again. A fun little happening for your mom to watch. Gee, if every nest was successful we’d have to open a hunting season (haha – just kidding)
18 May 2008 at 11:23 am
Our first MODO nest was in our birdfeeder, but with better success — two chicks. Since then I have put up a shelf above the porch light and a clementine orange box under the corner rain gutter that have proved a boom to our resident MODOs. Some years we have had 5 broods(!!) in total from these nesting sites. I do not know how they do it ,but once the nest is empty it is not long before birds are back to start over.
One year, a robin began a nest on the shelf above the light before the doves could get started. However, when the doves arrived, BOTH bird species went on to complete their nests that were side by side touching each other (!!!) and even laid eggs together. Remarkable. But alas — the doves won out by keeping the robin from tending to her eggs which soon were abandoned. The doves then went on to fledge two more chicks.
Though the dove is a sign of peace,they can be an aggressive competitor — that’s one reason there are so many of them.
18 May 2008 at 12:10 pm
wonderful post. (What is that contraption that the mourning nest is nesting in? I’ve never seen that before…) Meanwhile, I’m not sure what happened except being harassed too much at ones nest can cause a bird to flee. I worry about the swallows and maybe having my bird feeders too close to the houses – however, they do a decent job of scaring away any birds coming near. I’ve I get near them the male dive bombs me! Pretty shots Tom.
18 May 2008 at 5:17 pm
Even though they come right in close and don’t move around much, I find doves among the hardest birds to get right in a photo – but you don’t seem to have any trouble at all. Beautiful!
18 May 2008 at 8:10 pm
@ Pinar – thanks and wish it was a good ending!
@ Toni – ya, but it does happen! Sorry to hear about the eagles!
@ Pam – thanks and it is sad!
@ Lisa – thanks but this feeder has not been used very long! I think something got it!
@ Jayne – Thanks and they do just plop those eggs anywhere!
@ Bird Girl – LOL . . . some places does have a hunting season on them!
@ Cestoady – They are amazing and I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys try again! Thanks for the update on your birds !
@ aullori – thanks and the bluejays do also!
@ Bird Lady – Thanks and it was an easy one since it was on the nest! Thanks
18 May 2008 at 8:56 pm
I hope she tries again-she’s very pretty!
19 May 2008 at 5:13 am
Well they are not exactly the smartest birds in the world, bless their little hearts!
19 May 2008 at 8:58 am
Well, I hope she holds her own and gets back on the nest. So far, our yard is doing pretty well with nests:
confirmed:
1 robin nest
1 chickadee nest
1 house wren nest
3 house sparrow nests (grr….)
suspected: (our house or our neighbors)
1 mourning dove nest
1 blue jay nest
1 cardinal nest
1 carolina wren nest
1 titmouse nest
Can’t wait to start seeing youngins!
19 May 2008 at 9:17 am
Just curious, but in cases like these is it possible to put the eggs under a heat lamp until they hatch, or is a few hours of the mother not sitting on them enough to kill them?
19 May 2008 at 3:43 pm
I loved this post on the mourning doves…I have just discovered that we have some of them not far from where I live…I could not get very close to them as they are very shy here. I wish you could have watched the progress of the nesting and seen the hatch. Cheers.
19 May 2008 at 9:53 pm
Such sweet-looking birds that I enjoy having them around, but I’m never been overly impressed by their overall intelligence or nesting abilities.
20 May 2008 at 3:42 am
@ Marg – I am more than sure they will try again! Hope in a better spot!
@ Rurality – no they are not! LOL
@ Marty – wow . . great list for sure!
@ Joe – I would assume that the eggs got eaten by the bluejay and that is the reason she isn’t there anymore! But, raising young must be done by a rehab center since it is illegal to do it without a permit and it is very hard work!
@ islandrambles – thanks and they are neat birds! Thanks
@ Marvin – thanks and I know exactly how you feel!
20 May 2008 at 7:08 am
Tom-I am a bit late to your mourning dove account. Sounds familiar, though.
So far, so good here at our house.
I saw the MODO chicks, and will post on that soon.
21 May 2008 at 7:05 am
Mourning Doves are a nice bird-and they’re native which so many people seemed to be concerned about.
21 May 2008 at 9:39 pm
Great shot of the Mourning Dove!
I love them..
~Nita~
21 May 2008 at 9:49 pm
Silly doves–they definitely won’t win any nest awards. I have several sharing evergreen trees with robins for nesting this year.
23 May 2008 at 10:42 am
I personally think mourning doves are one of the prettiest birds. Their nests? Another story! My mama mallard abandoned her nest with 9 eggs. I was so looking forward to the babies! Just hope she wasn’t killed. That old circle of life can be very unfriendly at times.
24 May 2008 at 5:44 pm
I was gone for two months and came home to find that a mourning dove had built her nest on top of my window air conditioner under the roof over my back sidewalk. She has two eggs and has been sitting on them most of the time (maybe him, too?). I have three dogs and she doesn’t seem to care about them and doesn’t fly off when I’ve been working on the area there. I’ve been two feet from her and she just sits and watches me (I talk to her!). She’s okay if she’s sitting on the nest and I walk out there, but if she’s off the nest and wants to come back to it – she “talks” to me and so does he. A robin built a nest across from her in the roof above the sidewalk (three babies have hatched), but she wants me no where near my sidewalk! She’ll have worms in her mouth and keep flying or hopping around and makes all kinds of noise. I look forward to seeing the babies.
12 June 2008 at 2:13 am
We have a nest w/2 very young chicks in the entry way of our house, one fall out all the way to the ground so I put it back in the nest. Next day looks like the mother pushed it out. We had this happen before and the chick stayed in the nest and survived! So we are worried this little chick is unwanted by her mother…Does anybody have any sugestions?
16 August 2008 at 10:58 am