Yet a few more Mourning Dove Questions! (1 Viewer)

[Ryan1]

This is my first post here, I just came to this forum for the first time today. Thank you for providing this resource.

I tried to read as many of the Mourning Dove related posts as I could so as not to be repetitive in my questions, but although I saw some related information, I'm still left with some things that are not clear to me and my vision is impaired so I may have missed some things. So please forgive me if this has already been covered.

I live in the northeast USA and I can remember waking up to the beautiful sounds of this bird as a young child and still get to experience that to this day. Although my profession was completely unrelated to anything having to do with birds, my life has been enhanced by these creatures immensely just observing them and knowing they are my fellow travelers on this earth. I can see easily the attraction to this interest.

Without further rambling, here are my specific questions about Mourning Doves:

Question Set #1
In my casual observation, I have always been puzzled about how these birds attend to the eggs in the nest. It appears that the bird never leaves the nest during the time between when the eggs are laid and the baby birds leave. I could not imagine it was possible as how does it eat and drink?

I just finished reading one discussion where it referred to more than one bird attending to the nest and their taking turns! Amazing if true and it would answer my question! I have never observed the changing of the guard, but it makes sense that this may be how they handle it.

Do they take turns?

Does one bird stay on the nest while another gets some R&R, food and drink?

What is the male's role?

In the text I just read, there were apparently three adult birds involved. Is this common? How does this all work?

Question Set #2
How long does it take between the time the eggs are laid until the baby birds can fly and go out on their own?

Do the parents guide/feed them for a while after they leave the nest or are they immediately independent?


EDIT
If I may add one final question...

Usually I see their nests in a covered place where they are sheltered from direct sun, rain and wind. But currently they are on a nest that is completely exposed to all of these on a second floor air conditioner. How can they weather this? I live near the ocean and the weather can be very extreme this time of year. Strong winds and heavy rain. And some days the direct sun this time of year is oppressive. How can they handle just staying in one place like that through all of this?!



===
Again my sincere apologies to both askers and answerers if this is repetitive. And my sincere appreciation for any information that can help quench my curiosity. If the moderator feels this should be consolidated with an existing topic, by all means feel free to do so.

Thank you.

 

[Ryan1]

Or not... ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[etudiant]

There is good data on Mourning Dove behavior available from Cornell and other sites.
Some of your questions are answered here: Mourning Dove Guide: Nesting, Feeding, Mating Habits

Do remember that their approach to breeding and nesting is 'early and often', so failures are expected and are immaterial.

 

[Ryan1]

Thank you etudiant! Excellent reference!

I found exactly what I have been looking for:

Often emails from bird watchers arrive asking, "Our dove has not left the nest in days. Will she starve or die of thirst? What should we do?"

Unlike most birds, Doves incubate their eggs continually. Since the male and female look alike, it appears the same bird is incubating the eggs the whole time.

The male does the daytime shift, and the female does the night shift. If you are around mid-morning or mid-afternoon, you might get to see them change places.

Not to worry though, the switch was made while you were not looking.​