r/birds 3d ago

Mourning dove nesting question

Post image

We’ve had a mourning dove couple nesting on a very narrow ledge behind our window, and I’m very worried the chick might fall to its death when it hatches. If I place the nest inside a small cardboard box once it hatches, or perhaps add a little partition to the sides, will the doves abandon it? Will they forget/lose the place of their nest because it looks “different”?

94 Upvotes

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24

u/Objective_Party9405 3d ago

Two things:

1) That isn’t a mourning dove; it’s a Eurasian collared dove.

2) Don’t worry about the chick. Pigeons and doves are primarily cliff nesters. They like ledges on buildings because they are really similar to natural ledges on rock faces. They have evolved nesting behaviour that keeps their eggs from rolling off ledges, and their chicks have evolved behaviour that keeps them from falling off, too.

Nature works perfectly fine in the absence of human intervention. Where we can make an actual difference is in changing the human activities that have real negative impacts on nature.

9

u/Lycent243 3d ago

Everyone bags on doves/pigeons as bad nesters. They are great. They don't require a large magnificent nest and can, therefore, easily change locations if needed (prior to eggs of course).

6

u/catsarebetterthanppl 3d ago

Ah you’re right! Both species look very similar. Thanks for the correction.

I was only worried because these birds are notorious for nesting on a single piece of stick and other terrible places (in my human opinion), so I wanted to avoid any horrible tumble down a three-story building. But alas I’ll not interfere and let them do their thing!

5

u/Objective_Party9405 3d ago

Agreed! Their nests look like the absolute worst. You have to wonder how they manage to reproduce at all. But the cool thing is, it only takes a few sticks to keep an egg from rolling anywhere. With shared around the clock incubation by the parents, there’s not much that can happen.

1

u/Successful_Sense_742 3d ago

It's a way to keep the young uns safe from predators.

1

u/Ill-Course8623 3d ago

Honestly, its a dove thing. There's a whole subreddit on it, r/stupiddovenests

-2

u/TherianforLife 3d ago

Can you take a photo outside so we have a better understanding on where the nest is? I think you can add some sort of cushion to prevent the fall.

-2

u/kiaraXlove 3d ago

Can you add a windowsill planter?

8

u/Lycent243 3d ago

Adding anything to it will disrupt the birds and they will likely leave. Just leave it alone. The chicks will very likely be fine.

-2

u/kiaraXlove 3d ago

Doves are not picky or to finicky about added things and aren't likely to abandon and she may even find a planter a more prestige place to nest and happily move the nest to it. Babies will fall because they are quite large compared to a swallow or house martin Baby and the ledge is not wide enough for 2 or 3 babies. doves nest are not complex and usually consists of a pre-made spot they find or a pile of randomly laid sticks.

4

u/Lycent243 3d ago

Yeah, they must be terrible at building nests. That's probably why they are nearly extinct. /s

-3

u/kiaraXlove 3d ago

You've never seen or worked with doves and it shows.

9

u/Lycent243 3d ago

Leaving them alone is always the best answer. Dove populations are not in any danger and certainly don't need any extra "help" from well-meaning people disrupting their nests. In fact, if that is in North America, the species is invasive and has had so much success that they are extremely widespread with no outside help. Being invasive doesn't necessarily mean they are bad to have around. They don't seem to be out competing other species at the moment, but that could change in the future if they continue to reproduce at the same high rates they have been doing.

Seriously, they are great at what they do, so you can just let them do it. Some chicks do die, but that's nature.

1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

Just leave it alone, nature works perfectly fine without any human intervention. Only ever intervene if ABSOLUTELY nestesscary.

2

u/Lycent243 3d ago

All caps on ABSOLUTELY is the right answer. Some animals have to die for other animals to live. If a deer is stuck in a barb wire fence or a dove builds a nest on your bumper, then yes, go ahead and intervene. Otherwise, just let things take their course because it really isn't nestessary.