Morning doves abandoned nest? (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone,

I am new to the Bird Forum. I have some questions about a pair of doves that built a nest in a hanging pot in my backyard. I live in a subdivision in northern California so I don't see too many wild birds. I am not sure if this is the same pair but I have seen doves and eggs in my backyard in the past few years. Two years ago, she laid an egg on top of my plant stand that was covered with shade cloth. There was no nest. Something happened to it and it disappeared. Last year I found a hollow egg on the ground. This year, they built a nest in the hanging pot two feet away from my patio door. They laid two eggs last week. Right after the first egg was laid, they did not return for one whole night. Then they were back and a second egg was laid. Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of watching them switch incubation duties. They were here on Monday this week but they have not been back since. I looked inside the hanging pot and the two eggs are still there. I am really concern but I don't know what I can do. I did see one feather on the lawn but that does not mean much. My questions are:

Will the eggs still hatch? They have not been incubated for 4 days.

Will the doves return to the nest?

I know this sounds like an impossible question to answer but I wonder if something happened to them in my backyard? I do have neighborhood cats that I cannot tolerate, but they could not have climbed up to the hanging pot and attacked them, or could they? The hanging pot is hung off of an overhang outside the kitchen window.

Any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Hi Kal, and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry that I cannot help with your question - but I think someone else will be along soon to offer some ideas.

Hi Kal and a warm welcome to you from the staff here at BirdForum.net.

Chances of the eggs hatching would be very slim having remained in an isolated state for as long as they have. Doves are notorious for their haphazard nesting and all that you describe does not surprise me at all.

Cats are ingenious so don't put anything past them, but I would rather doubt they attacked a parent on the nest as I am sure the eggs would not have gone unscathed. I'm sure they just felt a bit too threatened at that particular nesting site and moved on to find a safer place. Keep us posted.

Do Dove migrate for the summer? It is really hot out there in the aftenoons, about 100 degrees or more. Maybe it is too hot for them. Funny thing is, I was out there this morning and I have not heard one single mourning dove. In the past few months, I heard them flying by and landing somewhere but I heard nothing in the last few days eversince the weather got super hot. I will keep you all posted.

Today is Thursday, July 29, 2004. I still have not seen the pair of doves return to the nest. I have not checked the eggs since last weekend. I looked this evening and one of them is gone. I picked up the other one and looked at it. The top one third of the egg has a halo of a greyish color. I am not sure what that means. I don't think it will hatch since it has not been incuabated. It might be stolen just like the other one. I assume a bird (maybe a Scrub Jay) stole it since it would be difficult for a cat to get up there and not make a mess of the nest and the plants in the hanging pot.

Well, this will be my last post regarding the doves. The other egg is gone as of today so there is nothing left to update. This has been such a disappointing experience....

Sorry to hear about the loss of your Mourning Dove eggs. Hope they nest again soon, if it is too late now, maybe they will come back next year. It is always upsetting when this kind of thing happens (we always wonder why) but there is often no explanation.

Hope you have better luck soon and that you will be posting with news of other birds in your garden.


Ann

kal99999 said:

Well, this will be my last post regarding the doves. The other egg is gone as of today so there is nothing left to update. This has been such a disappointing experience....

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Kal, I am fairly sure I am about to go through the same disappointment.
Your situation is eerily similar to mine.
Two mourning doves, in a hanging flower pot, about 2 - 3 feet from our patio door.

Our mourning doves tended to scare easily, and we think we may have been the culprits who scared them away.

A robin is nesting literally 15-20 feet from where the mourning doves are, but has grown accustomed to having us in the yard. She is still looking after her nest.

We have two mourning dove eggs as well, and much like your dilemma, we have not seen the parents in a few days.
The eggs are still white, but I'm not sure they will remain having not been incubated in a while, hope I'm wrong.

We were pondering some "Fly Away Home" Anna Paquin magic, but do not have the skill, expertise OR time to try such an endeavour.
Sucks when we have to experience nature like this, but nature is nature after all.

Here's hoping to a successful batch of baby robins!F

Cheers
Jon