I would just keep my distance and see if the mother comes back.

Natalie you are so right. Doves make terrible nests!

Ann, the other nest is Quail eggs, not sure how the Dove baby would be accepted there.

This is the first Dove nest that I've actually seen! Well, that I have known to be a Dove nest! Now I'm going to look at every small pile of nothing and wonder if it is a Dove nest!

I do hope the little one makes it, and that the mother comes back to take care of it.

Oh Linda, such nice birds nesting there at your house. Hope mom comes back and takes care of the little chick that wants to hatch. Hope it did hatch successfully.

Me too, Rita. So far no more hatching and no Mom.

quietyard said: Me too, Rita. So far no more hatching and no Mom.

I would think the little one needs mom to sit on the nest and protect it. But then the Doves are really sweet but not the brightest bulbs in the brains department.

I would call Doves, the dingbats of the bird world !!

quietyard said: I would call Doves, the dingbats of the bird world !!

Those are great shots Linda. The Quail has pretty good camouflage.

I hope the Dove comes back to the nest, poor little baby, how many eggs do they usually have, I am surprised that there is only one egg in the nest.

The most I have seen in Dove's nests is two eggs.

quietyard said:Natalie you are so right. Doves make terrible nests!

Ann, the other nest is Quail eggs, not sure how the Dove baby would be accepted there.

Oh duh. I will plead that I was very distracted when I read that & didn't put 2 + 2 together.

No problem Ann.

Natalie said:Wow Linda! All kinds of excitement going on at your place! I've heard that Mourning Doves are not good at nest building. If that egg is from a Mourning Dove, I can see that the nest is almost non-existent! I hope the little one survives! Please keep us updated!

This is the update on the Dove egg, Natalie. The Mom never showed up yesterday nor was she on the nest this morning. No more cracking of the shell had taken place so I removed the nest, saw no movement inside the egg. I gently peeled the shell away to see that the baby had not made it. I wonder if that is why the Mom left the nest or if leaving the nest too early was what stopped the hatching and killed the baby. Just do not know. As you can see from the photo it looks fully formed.

Aw.... poor little baby, maybe a cat or hawk got the mother Dove.

Very possible, Margaret. Front yard is not a good place to raise a bird family.

Oh that is really a shame.

How sad.

So sad, but they can't all make it, so I try to remember that. Doesn't help a lot, but I try.