I really like Mourning Doves and would be thrilled to have one nest on my porch, but they prefer the spruce trees.

I do enjoy having them but people go in and out the front door all the time and she gets disturbed.



Unfortunately she abandoned the egg!

They have a habit of doing this. Here is a family in my hanging basket.

Aaw, the poor thing. I hope the couple found a new spot. Birds choose the strangest places sometimes.

That is a sweet picture, Hetty. Did the young fledge? I would be a nervous wreck if any of my birds nested out in the open like that. We've had Barn Swallows on the porch, but up near the ceiling and that is open enough for me. A snake tried crawling up the siding while we were home and we scared it off. Thankfully, it never tried going on the porch again.

Yes, they all made it out safely; here are the babies in a later picture.

They are wonderful. They mate for life and love my spruces.
Good clean up as ground feeders under my feeding stations all winter.

Bbeautiful birds!! Yes, mourning doves mate for life and tend to return to the same nest year after year. We had a big nest in our transom over the front door. It was fun to watch the hatchlings from inside the house. But we had to block off the front door for a few weeks. We haven't seen them around as much as we used to? IDK why??

I had to put my 2 cents in on this thread. We have a variety of doves that come to our feeders. We have mourning doves and ring neck doves. My daughter who volunteers at the local wildlife rescue has several white doves in our old aviary that she cares for. They are precious, the little coos and strange scawks make me smile. They are not suited for life outside and can't take the cold. I wonder if she ever thinks about who's paying the electric bill on that heat bulb she keeps on all winter.

Great pictures of your Mourning Doves! I just found this thread, and had to add that Mourning Doves are abundant here. I guess they must like to clean up the grain that the horses waste. I had a nest of them in my cherry tree a couple years back that I could watch as they grew up. I happened to be there when they fledged. It was kind of exciting. Here's a couple of pictures I took back then. The next year a Robin used that exact spot for her nest. I have pictures of them too.

tveguy3 said:Great pictures of your Mourning Doves! I just found this thread, and had to add that Mourning Doves are abundant here. I guess they must like to clean up the grain that the horses waste. I had a nest of them in my cherry tree a couple years back that I could watch as they grew up. I happened to be there when they fledged. It was kind of exciting. Here's a couple of pictures I took back then. The next year a Robin used that exact spot for her nest. I have pictures of them too.

I am surprised a robin would use a dove nest! Here the dove nests are very casually made and sloppy! Robins usually like a tighter nest!

The robin only used the same spot, but built it's own nest. The mourning dove nest is such a loose bunch of sticks that it didn't last through the winter.
Mom sitting on the eggs.

New babies.

They were getting bigger every day.

Living on an old 40 acre farm we see a lot of birds, mostly chickadees, sparrows and the like, but I was surprised to meet a new neighbor just after Christmas.


Mr Pheasant has become a regular visitor and I have had many photo ops.
Chuck

Okay, that explains about the robin's nest. Doves are so casual about their nests. I've never seen such flimsy ones!
Love the beautiful pheasant too. Lucky you!

[quote="Dutchlady1"]Yes, they all made it out safely; here are the babies in a later picture.


Lovely. Thank you. Sad the one on the aloe left the nest.

I had a small pigeon adopt me a few months ago. I talked to him/her when she was in bush near me. She came closer, then when I spoke again, s/he flew onto me. Since then s/he has become bigger and a bit more independent but still gets cooked oatmeal, and finds me in the garden. I can call him/her for feeding. There are lots of predator birds here as well as our cats, who sing when they see pigeon outside the windows. They r inside cats but we used to let them out a bit which they love. The dogs don't worry. They are always on a leash when outside.

Just an FYI on the nest on the Aloe: she has raised a family there before so I don't know what happened. There was only the one egg and maybe she knew it wasn't viable.