Mourning Doves
A pair of Mourning Doves built a nest in our picnic pavilion. On May 4th there was one egg in the nest.
One of two adult mourning doves sitting on nest
Each time I checked on the nest, it appeared that the same bird was sitting on the nest. I assumed the bird sitting on the nest was female. A quick Internet search answered my query. The male and female mourning dove look alike; therefore, it appeared the same bird had been on the nest the whole time. I learned that the male does a daytime shift and the female does the night shift. Because I always checked on the nest during the daytime, the bird sitting on the nest is a male mourning dove. I learned that incubation takes two weeks. Not being sure when the egg that we saw on May 4th had been laid, we figured that the egg would hatch on or about May 18th.
On May 25 we removed the outdoor furniture from the picnic pavilion. We hosed down the picnic pavilion and the furniture, preparing both for the summer season. Our cleaning disturbed the mourning dove. She flew away from the nest. While she was gone, we looked in the nest.
The egg hatched 🙂
Except for the presence of the baby bird, we would have evicted the mourning dove that night. We made plans to evict the mourning dove family as soon as baby bird learned to fly.
Four days later (May 29th) we noticed that baby bird was getting bigger.
Baby bird and papa bird
We were still waiting for baby bird to spread its wings and fly!
On May 30th baby bird appeared ready to fly.
We didn’t see “Baby” leave the nest area that day.
On May 31st, when we walked into the pavilion, “Baby” wasn’t in the nest area.
“Baby” flew from the nest to one of the picnic pavilion rafters.
On the evening of June 1st, after not seeing “Baby” or either of the adult mourning doves, we evicted “Baby” and the parents. We reclaimed the chairs on which the nest had been built. We hosed down the nesting area and the chairs. We checked for several days afterward. The mourning dove family has not attempted to return. We hope that “Baby” survives the great big world.
The Beauty Around Us 
3 Responses to “Mourning Doves”
Very cute post! I do not think I have ever seen baby doves. They are adorable.
Aww Linda that’s a wonderful thing. So glad Baby grew big and flew off to make a new life for himself. Thanks for looking after Baby and parents so well! Enjoyed your pics so much.
Stopping by to say Happy Father’s Day.
That nesting event you had is so NEAT. I have never seen a baby Mourning Dove before… SO cute… I do hope he/she makes it in this crazy world.
Hugs,
Betsy