A little over two weeks ago we noticed a mourning dove nesting in a rain gutter on our house. We had a very clear view of it from a second floor bedroom window.
I set up my camera on a tripod so we could watch the process without spooking the bird too much. Over the course of two weeks we never witnessed the change of shift between the female and male; there was always one of them on the nest at all times though. Since the birds usually sat with their backs facing our window, we rarely got to see into the next very well, but on one occasion when it was facing us it did some rearranging and we could see two eggs.
This past weekend, we noticed the mother (or father?) was more active than usual and seemed to be reaching down with its beak to feed the babies. So, we assumed they were hatched and that we would get to see the newborns within the next few days. Last night we got home from work and were in the backyard grilling and talked about the birds because we could see the top of the mother's head peaking over the edge of the gutter, so we know she was there. After dinner we took the garbage out and noticed that the head wasn't visible, so we ran upstairs to get a better look and the nest was completely empty! There seemed to be no sign whatsoever that there had been eggs or birds in it at all.
What could be the explanation? Our house is tall and isn't near enough to any trees or fences for cats to get on it. Occasionally a squirrel will get on the roof by walking about 30 feet across a powerline. Could the babies have been taken by another bird? We find it strange that there are no traces of eggshell in the nest or on the ground about 10 feet below.
Any insight would be appreciated.
I set up my camera on a tripod so we could watch the process without spooking the bird too much. Over the course of two weeks we never witnessed the change of shift between the female and male; there was always one of them on the nest at all times though. Since the birds usually sat with their backs facing our window, we rarely got to see into the next very well, but on one occasion when it was facing us it did some rearranging and we could see two eggs.
This past weekend, we noticed the mother (or father?) was more active than usual and seemed to be reaching down with its beak to feed the babies. So, we assumed they were hatched and that we would get to see the newborns within the next few days. Last night we got home from work and were in the backyard grilling and talked about the birds because we could see the top of the mother's head peaking over the edge of the gutter, so we know she was there. After dinner we took the garbage out and noticed that the head wasn't visible, so we ran upstairs to get a better look and the nest was completely empty! There seemed to be no sign whatsoever that there had been eggs or birds in it at all.
What could be the explanation? Our house is tall and isn't near enough to any trees or fences for cats to get on it. Occasionally a squirrel will get on the roof by walking about 30 feet across a powerline. Could the babies have been taken by another bird? We find it strange that there are no traces of eggshell in the nest or on the ground about 10 feet below.
Any insight would be appreciated.