This Mourning Dove has decided to nest in a hanging pot of Petunias by our back door. She seems to be okay with us going in and out past her, as long as we don't make a move directly toward her nest (she flew up and startled me when I was watering in that direction this morning). She just sits and watches as we walk past, and sometimes chirps back when we talk to her.
What a perfect Mothers Day photo! You will be able to watch and photograph the whole process too.
It is amazing how fast young doves grow! And they will grow up used to you and perhaps even nest nearby as well when they are old enough! I used to work at a large nursery with hundreds of hanging baskets all over the sales yard. Hummingbirds would build their nests in the hooks of the wires. Sometimes at eye level! The babies would grow up so used to people staring at them, that they would land on people while they were learning how to fly.
That is the perfect Mother's Day picture! We have bluebirds nesting in a box on our veranda, but they go in and out so fast, we just see streaks going by. At our old home, we had house finches nesting in our hanging pots every year - they were fun because we got to see the babies growing up.
Aw, how sweet. You may want to ignore her as much as possible to avoid any predators spotting her. If you have any crows around, they are very good at observing things and will raid the nest of the eggs or the nestlings if they have the chance.
We don't seem to have many crows around our neighborhood -- hummers, sparrows, wrens, and swifts are the main birds here. It turns out that Mourning Dove couples share the parenting responsibilities, so that one is always on the nest. Usually Dad takes the late-night and morning shifts, with Mom on duty in the afternoon and evening. Today, possibly because of the rain, Dad took over early (about 5 PM) and is still on the nest as I write this a little after 6:30. We've named them Homer and Georgia, after my wife's maternal grandparents.
We do try to act pretty much as if they weren't there when we're outside. We have a window in the back door, so we can easily observe them from inside the house.
How are they doing? At night, I raise funds for our community college foundation and we work from an upstairs room of an old mansion. Cecil Bruner (spelling?) roses climb up a balcony that is in a the shape of a half circle. As I sit and make calls, I can see out the floor to ceiling windows and watch two sets of Brewer's Blackbird parents raise their young in the roses (on opposite sides of course!). I can't actually see the babies until they fledge each spring. But I can watch the busy parents arriving with beaks full of insects and then diving over the edge down the the nests. People haven't been allowed out onto the balcony for years. Lots of crows around too, so it always worries me that they will discover the young blackbirds. The other night, I even watched one crow bringing food to it's fledgling up in a tall pine tree nearby. And last night, one set of fledgling blackbirds were hopping all over the balcony and I wondered how your doves were doing.
It appears that the eggs were duds. Georgia and Homer abandoned the nest a couple of days ago -- we theorize that they waited until the eggs should have hatched, and then went elsewhere to try again. I came home on Monday to find the nest empty except for the eggs, and neither of the birds has shown up since then. We miss them.
Oh, that is sad. But I do hope they were successful elsewhere.
They're back! My wife saw and heard them this afternoon bustling about and apparently building a new nest on top of the old one. Don't know whether they tossed the old eggs or what (although I can't imagine they's still be viable after three nights in the cold). Maybe they're just going to try again in the same spot. Homer's on the nest right now.
Yeah!!! My sister and brother-in-law have a couple doing the same thing. They got a great pick of them building the nest up in a potted plant. They named them also, but I forget the names now.
In a good year, many birds will have more than one brood of young. Especially if the first set doesn't make it.
I hope will get to see photos of the babies!
My nephew, visiting from Redding, accidently scared Homer off the nest this afternoon. While he was away, I looked in the nest (from a distance) and found that there are now 4 eggs. Since mourning doves generally lay clutches of two, that probably means that the 2 original eggs are still there and Georgia has laid an additional clutch of two. We'll see what happens in a couple of weeks, I guess.
We found a hummer's nest a few weeks ago. I think the babies hatched but we aren't messing with her. She was smart enough to build it among the wisteria right over where I pot plants. I'm thinking that she probably trusts me, and hope the babies are good flyers and the cats don't get to them.
For the first time this year, the hummer nest attached to the light cord hasn't been rebuilt. I've spotted lots of different nests, but am woefully ignorant on what builds them.
Hope all our birdies make it. : - )
WIB,
SW
Well, I guess it's time for them to try yet again. The second clutch didn't hatch either, and they're off the nest for now. Don't know if they'll return again. In the meantime, we're off to Arizona for a week to visit family, so we won't be around to bother them for a while if they do come back.
SW, great picture! I have lots of hummers but have never been fortunate enough to find a nest. Lucky you, getting to watch the whole hatching process. :)
Homer and Georgia gave up after two tries; unfortunately, none of the eggs ever hatched. We do have a couple of hummer nests around the yard -- there's one in the bottlebrush tree in the back yard and one in the Ceanothus in the front. Also, some sparrows nested in a decorative "lighthouse" birdhouse out back and they successfully raised a litter of chicks. We have a big splashy urn fountain in the side yard, which the hummers and goldfinches really love to play on.
Another thing I've noticed over the last couple of years is that our honeybees are back. For a couple of years, all we had were bumblebees, but now the honeybees seem to be back in force.
Be careful, the Africanized bee is already in my area, and is moving much further north than the scientists thought they would. If they are at all aggressive call vector control. You wouldn't want anyone hurt or killed. Sadly they attack our pets too. So don't forget about them.
If it's any consolation my hummer eggs didn't hatch out either. : - (
I was hoping (a bit enviously), that your doves would.
Maybe next year, we'll both get luckier. : - )
Thanks for keeping us posted.
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf
