Doves In a TrellisBbasket

by Bob A.
(Brooklyn, NY USA)

We live in a fully attached brick house in the southern part of Brooklyn.

We are a block away from a salt creek and a few minutes from Jamaica Bay. We are bordered by bird sanctuaries.

I mention all this to put the pictures in perspective. The first several pictures are taken through the glass of the back door.

The planter is hanging from a wire trellis that is attached to the short cyclone fence.

You can see the neighbor's yard, garage and BBQ through the trellis.

The trellis is held up mainly by the wisteria vine and is there for the plant to fill in so we don't have to see the neighbor’s yard in the summer.

Because of the crazy Fall and Winter we never took the planters down as per usual.

It's all ironic, there are plenty of nesting places in the sanctuary; but this pair chose our planter that's swinging in the March winds because the trellis is loose and the planter makes it top heavy when it's unsecured.

They are getting some ride!

Day 1- March 21, 2012
I am going in and out of the back door to my garage all morning. All at once I notice the dove in the planter, it doesn’t flinch and I go about my business. This nest is about 3 1/2 feet from the back door.

They have been around the yard at different times; but usually take off.

One time I looked out an upstairs window because I heard the cooing and saw one nestled on the telephone cable where it makes an angle between the chimney and rear wall.

This is a heavy lead cable so it provides plenty of support. Next time I pass, the dove is standing and I see an egg. I told my wife that we have a new tenant.

Day 2
Still going in and out and getting the blank one eye stare. I did notice that they change position every couple of hours.

Now I'm curious and I’m checking on the bird all through the evening.

Day 3
Everything is status quo until my wife decides that this bird must be hungry and tries to place food near it in the planter.

The bird takes off and we are both surprised that it abandoned the nest. Everything is back to normal in about a half hour.

I go on line and find this website where I learned a thing or two about nesting Mourning Doves.

Apparently everything that they are doing is normal. Now we know there are two and not to worry.

In the process of putting a plastic bag in a trash can I scared the dove again and it went to the roof of the garage.

That's when I see that there are two eggs.

I had a full view the first time and I know that there was only one egg.

Once I was back inside the dove came back; that's when I decided to take a few pictures.

Day 4 9:15 AM
Contrary to the information given on the website I caught the shift change. Yep, one was sitting on the eggs and the other tending to it.

Luckily my camera was in reach and I caught a few pictures. The second one left a few minutes later.

Now late afternoon and the weather is turning. I felt a little sleet when I went out back to lock up.

It crossed my mind that this bird has no shelter; but then I decided that I should just leave it alone.

Day 5
Everything is normal even though there is a cold drizzle on and off. Out for most of day so nothing to report. The dove was still there when we got home.

Day 6 7:45 AM
I was sitting in my office on the second floor and I heard a noise that sounded like a squirrel or bird hit the window screen.

I got up to look and didn't see anything unusual. Then I looked down and saw an empty nest.

In disbelief I went down stairs to check it out. There wasn’t a bird on the garage roof, the arbor, anywhere.

At about 8:30 something caught my eye as we were having breakfast. I got up to look and there she was, like nothing happened.

Can those eggs survive uncovered for that long in 40 degrees F?

Doves and Chicks in Hanging Basket

by Sue Smith
(Pflugerville, TX)

On May 15 of this year, I had a freak accident and broke my hip.

This was inconvenient to say the least, as I am the principle care-taker for my Paraplegic and wheel-chair-bound husband.

I knew a grim task was ahead of me, especially since I was ALSO now assigned a wheelchair and/or walker with instructions to bear NO weight on my right leg.

Two days after I returned home from surgery, it seemed evident that Murphy's Law had surfaced rudely, beginning with the fact that I did not get a promised wheel chair until my third day home and had to BORROW my husband's wheelchair.

One disaster happened after another, and I just concluded that Murphy's Law was in control of this particular episode.

Nothing was going right, or everything was going wrong. You take your pick.

Until one day, I got diverted from a kitchen duty when I saw a Dove fly repeatedly into one of my four backyard hanging baskets.

I wheeled away simply noting the fact that this was peculiar.

Next day I was staring out the window when I saw the Dove return, and of course the light bulb started blinking and I realized she was building a nest,

I kept a vigil, watching this process and started to feel excited for the first time since at least three days. Suddenly, my excitement was infused with "happy!".

What followed, interspersed with pains and difficult tasks, was more frequent trips to the window.

Then as mobility began to happen, I KNEW I had to have photos.

It was very tricking lighting (I'm a retired professional photographer ) as it was very back-lit and I was shooting through the window with a telephoto lens.

I couldn't avoid some camera-shake and thus, photos are somewhat "soft", but I think that you can see the serenity that this beautiful event brought to a "downer type" of circumstance.

I consider the whole thing a gift from nature. To make things even better, as soon as the fledglings left (I would say that three days had passed), we have another completely different sitting on the nest, and she is most definitely NESTING.

Can't say that the last seven-plus weeks has had a rosy glow cast throughout each day, but I CAN say that one Dove and her two chicks brightened by life by a wide margin!

Doves take over my Staghorn fern

by Julie
(Fort Myers, Florida)

I obtained a staghorn fern which is and this one is pricier and more difficult to keep alive and healthy.

I have given this plant TLC and extra care. I would put old bread in it a fruit peels.

One day I was walking into my condo and a dove flies out of my fern and fluttered into my face.

I realized two doves were building a nest in my hanging fern. I tried shooing them away all day. They diligently persisted in bringing twigs and nesting material.

I noticed the next morning that only one dove was left and building had stopped. Mama bird did not fly away when I approached.

She just looked at me and sat. I went up on the balcony and saw two big eggs under mama.

I even had a barbecue outside with 7 guests milling in and out the door. Mama dove seemed unbothered.

They didn't even notice the well camouflaged mother. They were amazed that she was so still...only cocking her head at observers.

I'm told it is a sign of good luck if baby birds nest near your door. I just wish mama, papa, and babies luck.

If my calculations are right, I should meet beautiful baby doves next weekend.

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women

Doves Nesting In Plant Container

by Heather B
(Arizona)

I was wondering for a few days why every time I opened the front door a dove would fly away...Then

I discovered that they had built a nest in where I had a spider plant, the plant died a while ago but I just left it up there.

I was very happy and excited for the eggs to hatch at first there was only one egg but now there's two however they been there for about three weeks and still haven’t hatched.

I hope they will hatch soon and aren't bad, I want to check the eggs but know its best not to interfere.

The male dove is used to me now and lets me take a closer look they're so cute.

I've included a picture of him sitting on the eggs.

Doves In Hanging Flowers

by Christine
(West Allis, WI, USA)

My husband just finished redoing our porch in wood. To Celebrate, he bought me some nice colorful hanging flowers to decorate it.

On memorial day this year, we hung them up on one side of the porch, but they were in the way because that was where we sit outside. So we hung them on the other side of the porch.

After about a week, I noticed that birds mourning doves were flying in and out of my flowers flattening them.

At first i was a little upset, but they aren't perennials and were going to die after this summer anyway so I decided to let the birds have their fun.

I should explain that I have a 22lb. cat that is my baby and loves to go outside late at night and early morning.

One night we were outside on the porch and he was definitely on the hunt for anything in his path.

First he caught a June bug which I immediately made him spit out, then he went to the other side of the porch.

I thought nothing of it until I heard a rustling sound and the loud flapping and chirping.

I didn't get to see what exactly happened, but I do know that my cat scared a bird off the porch, maybe attacked it, and it flew into a nearby tree chirping loudly and rustling in the tree branches.

This scared me because I thought that my cat had injured this bird. That is the background of the story.

About two days after the incident with my cat, I was on the porch with my husband and my 1 1/2 year old son when we saw a mourning dove just sitting in tone of the hanging flower plant.

My husband tried to shoo it away, but it would not budge.

We thought that maybe it was about to lay eggs, so my husband wanted to take a picture of it.

He was successful, but 2 seconds after he snapped the pic, the dove flew away.

So I did not think it had nested. I looked in the flowers, and sure as shoot, there were 2 perfectly round white eggs.

We felt so bad for disturbing this poor dove that we immediately took a pic and left it alone and forbid the cat from going outside.

The dove came back that night so I felt a lot better that it didn't abandon the eggs because of our negligence.

But I have never seen the male and female switch places, and I am very worried that my cat may have killed one of them.

I looked around the tree it flew into that one night, but never found a body, so I am hoping that they are still both alive and watching the nest because I know that it is near impossible for the one bird to do it alone.

But every day I am on the porch talking to my dove and keeping a watchful eye on it. Hoping that I get to see two little baby doves soon with a happy mommy and daddy.

I am attaching the two photos we took that actually turned out fabulous considering they were taken with a camera phone.

I hope to keep you updated when the eggs hatch.

Birds and Blooms	Pioneer Woman	People Magazine	First For Women