View the Mourning Dove Nest On My Balcony - page 2

Out of the Nest

A lot happened in this dove family the weekend of May 19 and 20, 2007. I was glad it was a weekend so I could be home to see all the activity! I felt like a proud parent watching their child take it's first steps.

05/19/07 - The babies are taking their first steps out of the nest!

05/19/07 - It's really getting crowded.

05/19/07 - I think this is Dad with the babies.

05/19/07 - A family portrait.

05/20/07 - 7:30am - It's morning - where are Mom and Dad? The babies are alone.

05/20/07 - 8:30am - The parents are still gone!

05/20/07 - 9:40am - The parents are watching their babies from the roof. They did this frequently as the babies started leaving the nest. I could hear them cooing - I guess to reassure their babies that they were close by.

05/20/07 - 10:30am - The babies are preening and stretching their wings.

05/20/07 - noon - Both babies are venturing out of the nest.

05/20/07 - 7pm - Venturing out on the railing with Dad. One of the babies was more adventurous than the other. I figured this was the older of the two. The one in the nest always lagged behind.

05/21/07 - 7 am - The babies practiced flying to my patio table and chairs.

05/21/07 - Rarely do I see George and Gracie together. Here they're getting in out of the rain.

05/21/07 - This one is on the ledge, looking like he's ready to take off. He turned around and crawled back under the railing, though.

05/21/07 - Mom was just on the chair, but I scared her away!

05/22/07 - One of the little guys (the more adventurous of the two) found its way around the corner to the ledge outside my bedroom window.

05/25/07 - After three days of being gone, they're back for a short visit.

05/27/07 - I cleaned out the flower box and put the silk flowers back in place. A couple of days later another dove was building a nest. So I went back out and removed some of the silk flowers again. I don't know if it was the same pair, but I don't think so. This nest is on the opposite site of the box, and the parents didn't act the same. On 5/30 I noticed two eggs in the nest.

06/10/07 - Here's Daddy with one new baby and one egg that hasn't hatched yet. I'm pretty sure this is the daddy because they supposedly have a blue tinge to the feathers on their head, which can be seen here.

06/10/07 - Here's another view of the new baby.

06/10/07 - Here's Daddy keeping the baby warm.

06/10/07 - Another view of the new baby. The second egg from this brood never hatched.

06/12/07 - One of the parents taking a break.

06/17/07 - The babies really grow fast.

06/20/07 - Mom (I think) and baby together.

06/21/07 - The baby is venturing out of the nest. Here it's sitting alone in the rain. You can see the unhatched egg in the nest.

06/21/07 - A few minutes later, feeding time!

06/21/07 - This baby, compared to the previous family, really learned to fly quickly, and left the nest much sooner.

06/21/07 - This was my last view of parent and baby together before they left the nest for good. The other parent is not far away, on the building to the left out of view.