They’re back, much to the chagrin of my partner. This year mourning doves built their nest in the same location, same gutter as last year, but on our mesh-topping that was to discourage their laying a nest in that spot this year. Ha ha, we did not discourage their use of that spot at all! Nope; birds – 2, humans – 0.

Mourning doves are interesting birds. I started watching their nest building activity a few weeks ago; not the prettiest bunch of twigs thrown together on that mesh, but maybe they had to improvise. Once built, eggs must have been laid as it seemed a bird was always on  the nest. Yet one night, after midnight as I was working at my computer, I heard a couple of doves at the nest. I now know there is always a bird on the nest during incubation time; male on daytime shift and female on night shift. 

I understand it’s possible for one to not even realize if eggs were laid or young were hatched. I can attest to that. I always wondered what stage all was at once there was always one adult on the nest. Are you laying on the  eggs or the hatchlings? Every day I walked about 6 – 10 feet from the nest to my backyard. No adult ever worried about me in the area. They knew it was a safe place to be, but could they give me a hint of what is happening?

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Mourning doves are known to lay 2 eggs and incubate them for 14 – 15 days. Once the young hatch, adults brood them continually 4 – 5 days. I finally saw a squab, a baby dove! Actually there were 2 squabs!

I hoped to see some feeding activity. Doves produce pigeon milk, which is not really milk, from glands in the crop of the adult. The parent opens their mouth wide allowing the nestling to stick its head inside to feed on the nutritious food for a few days. Then the squabs will eat regurgitated seeds for about a month. I watched some of that activity from a bedroom window.

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They have flown the nest! I saw the squabs hanging out on their own at the nest for a few days and an adult would fly in for a short time. Then it seemed they were gone! What a wonderful opportunity to watch all of this unfold these past few weeks! I love nature and was satisfied with the work these adults did in caring for their young!

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