Skip to content. Skip to navigation

Sections

Mourning Dove Nest in California

Text and Photos by Hana Lang, Saratoga, California

Parent, 2 babies,3,closer

We live on a residential street in Saratoga, California.  On our back porch, in a corner of the porch within a few feet of 2 windows to our house, on the dirt of a potted lime tree plant, two mourning doves began constructing a nest on April 6.  This process was completed by two days later.
Parent, dappled sunlight
On April 8 we noticed a white egg in the nest.  The two birds were taking turns sitting on the egg. 
egg,lawn, container
On April 11th we noticed that two eggs were now present.

One or the other parent was on the eggs at all times.  We learned to tell the two birds apart because one has a slimmer body, and one bird is rounder and larger overall. 

On the morning of Sunday April 26 we had a great surprise ! The eggs were gone, and in their place we saw two teeny tiny newly hatched birds.  One or the other parent has been sitting on the birds since then.  We are avoiding playing out in the backyard to minimize disturbance to the birds. 
2 new babies in nest
The two newborns emerged for a photo session next to their parent briefly at noon today.  We look forward to watching our newly hatched doves turn into fledglings.  This is a new experience for us, and has granted us a greater appreciation of birds and how they care for their babies.
parent,2 babies

Parent, 2 babies,2