As I was bringing in my plants for the evening, I ended up with a #MourningDoveNesting update! Loretta is still sitting carefully, but you can now see the little feathered wings of the babies underneath. Soon they'll be too big to be hidden and will be out on the nest in plain view. They will also soon be left alone for short periods as the parents start foraging for more food, more often.
@Halcyon Mourning doves make awful nests & the babies tend to fall out. if you can reach, just put them back. if you can't, try wiring a basket to the tree or nearby out of predator reach & the parents should continue caring for it even outside the nest.
@redenigma @Halcyon
I am trying to help a couple right now. Their nest was flimsy and keeled over. Good location though so I'm weaving some wire under it.
@redenigma @b4cks4w Do you know the average life span of them? I've seen multiple sources all saying different things.
@Halcyon i think that Thing One living 6 years was a lot of luck on his part.
@redenigma @b4cks4w this nest is by my balcony door in my planter, well away from the edge. They've already raised one brood and this is the second. The nest is safe, sheltered and no risk of injury if the babies fall. This nest was reinforced by them for their second brood and is nice and deep. The sides of the planter make a wall for them on three sides, as it's not full. Reinforcing is good advice for people who may have doves who build in dangerous places or have flimsy nests though.
@b4cks4w @redenigma Enigma has it right here. Reinforcing is good if they have a bad nest build. They build in the strangest places.
@b4cks4w @Halcyon one reason Mourning doves raise 3 or 4 broods/year is because they're so bad at nest building, a lot of the not quite fledglings (or even eggs) die from falling.
if you can reinforce it that would be really cool.
we raised a baby mourning dove about 11 years ago. it feel out of a nest at kiddo's school & there was no safe way to get it back in or place it near by. it was also late fall, so Thing One stayed with us through the winter & joined the local flock in the spring.