Mourning doves fighting outside active nest (1 Viewer)

[ysandomir]

Hello BirdForum!

Mourning doves have been successfully nesting on our window ledge for two years, reusing the same nest.

Sadly, the last brood died about a week after hatching. I reviewed my bird cam and was shocked to discover a full on brawl between mourning doves on top of the babies in the nest.

That compelled me to check the days prior and it looks like the babies weren’t doing well before the fight. So, I have a couple of questions:

1. Contractors carefully removed the nest for a few minutes to clean and paint the ledge a couple of days before the eggs hatched. Could this have compromised the babies health?

2. What could’ve caused the brawl?

3. Worms were present by the time I cleaned the nest out. I left the nest in the hot sun (I live in Florida) for a couple of weeks, then cleaned out the dead worms, etc. My question is, will birds continue to reuse this nest or should I discard it for them to start over?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Here’s the video of the brawl.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits.

1. It is illegal to interfere with an active nest so the contractors broke the law; the fumes from the paint would have compromised the chicks’ health.

2. I imagine some kind of threat could have caused the brawl.

3. I would discard the nest.

You may find this link interesting

Mourning Dove - BirdForum Opus

www.birdforum.net

 

[ysandomir]

Thank you for the reply and link!