Finally, a Fledgling

Birds, Mourning Doves, Reflections, , , ,

Hello and welcome!

You may remember this mourning dove who had a well-hidden nest in the maple tree just off our deck.

For weeks I’ve been watching this bird sit on the nest. It has probably been both parents that I have seen up there since they share in the job. (I have just not witnessed them changing places.) I was beginning to wonder if there were really eggs and if they would ever hatch. I never heard babies (cheep, cheep, cheep) in the nest nor did I see parents bring food to their young.

When I did my homework, I learned that mourning doves feed their babies crop milk, a liquid high in antioxidants, fat and protein which is produced in their throat. Both parents produce crop milk and share the feeding responsibilities. This explains why there was no scurry of activity with the parents’ bringing food to their young.

Two days ago I looked up toward the nest and instead of seeing an adult bird I could barely make out the small head of a baby. Once I saw it move, I was sure that’s what I was seeing.

Yesterday, I couldn’t see baby and there were no parents around, so I was relieved this morning when my husband came in and told me that the baby mourning dove was on our deck. By the time I grabbed my camera and got out there it was gone. 😦

Later this afternoon I was thrilled to see it perched on a chair in our courtyard. Normally mourning doves lay two eggs so I am not certain if one of the eggs did not hatch, or if for some reason there was only one egg.

Mourning doves can raise as many as six broods per year and in Michigan their breeding season goes into September. Since this nest still seems to be in good shape (at least what I can see of it) they may continue to use this nest to raise another brood or two.

Thanks for visiting.

15 thoughts on “Finally, a Fledgling”

  3. Very interesting to hear about how they feed their babies. Thank you! I learned something new today. We have a nest every year in our side yard in AZ that the doves have had two batches of babies. Their nest is nothing but a few twigs. They are fun to watch! Enjoy!

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    1. So happy you learned something new. They are so much fun to watch. This little one is still hanging around our deck. My husband took it a dish of water and was able to get within a couple feet of it while it just sat on the deck railing.

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  6. My neighbor Marge, whom I used to write about all the time until her passing in 2017, had a mourning dove nest on her deck in a metal openwork oblong planter. It looked like a breadbasket and still had the cocoa mulch pad in it from the Summer before. She laid and incubated two eggs and one did not hatch and Marge watched her through her doorwall all the time. Marge saw one of the parents scoot the egg out of the nest and roll it off the deck. How fun you saw it perching like that and got a picture. Marge similarly saw the parents giving the baby flying lessons and then they were gone. She hated when they fledged as she had monitored those doves from the first day she saw the nest. I actually wrote one, if not two posts about the dove as I could see it on the deck from my house and Marge e-mailed me photos of the them.

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    1. I wish I could have watched more of what was happening in this nest. I’m sure they were up there for more than the four weeks it should have taken to raise a brood. Perhaps they had a failed brood first or maybe they raised a brood and they fledged when I wasn’t looking and this was a second brood. I didn’t see any eggs on the ground so I’m thinking it was just one egg. I am happy that I got to see this young one and get pictures too.

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      1. Well, hopefully they return next year as they found a safe place to raise that baby. I know Marge hated when they fledged as watching them and taking photos from inside the house had become a favorite pastime for her.

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