Well, after 6 months, I am about to be a "father" again!
On Monday, February 22, 1999, my mourning dove began hanging out in the same potted plant as before. (I think she is the same one!)
Click here for the first time story and pictures of the first babies!
I received an email from Anne letting me know the following
info which I decided to pass on to my homepage visitors.
A book you should get is Stoke's Guide to Bird Behavior, Vol.2. There's quite a bit of interesting reading in the chapter about doves and especially about their courtship and breeding habits. Here's a quote about the incubation of the eggs. "Male and female Mourning Doves share in incubation and the birds have an amazing schedule - the male incubates the eggs without once leaving the nest from morning until evening, and the female does the same from evening until morning. The changeover takes place between 8:30 and 10:30 in the morning and between 4:30 and 5:30 in the evening."
.
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Is this the same bird?
The one on the left was taken about 8 am, the one on
the right around 10:30 am.
This time, dad actually showed up and was making a nest for mom. The first time, I never saw a dad, and her nest was not well built.
They hung out in the potted plant in the morning hours, with dad working on the nest, but when I got home at night, they were no where to be found.
The last time I saw the dad was around Saturday, March
27.
I guess after the male birds do their dirty work,
and build the nest, they split!
Now, from the above info, this is not true, but I'll
have to see if I can tell mom and dad apart!
Mom began hanging out in the pot all the time.
On Monday, March 1, when I went to check up on my tenant,
she had laid her eggs.
I did notice a second egg later on when she moved around a little bit, but no pictures for my page.
I have yet to see her leave the nest, but she must find food during the day when I am at work, or during the night when I am sleeping.
Well, it looks like the eggs hatched sometime during the
night of Saturday,
March 13. Mom (or Dad ... I am confused now!) was
seen here cleaning or feeding one of the babies.
It must be hard to sit in the rain protecting your baby from the elements!
Well, I have sad news.
Baby bird and unhatched egg disappeared on Saturday,
March 27. They were all on the balcony one moment, and then the next,
they were gone.
I am sure the baby bird was not big enough to fly away, so I have a feeling that another animal, a squirrel or a larger bird, took flight with both the baby and egg.
I saw these two mourning doves an hour later. Could these be the parents?
Less then 2 weeks later though, mom and dad were back getting the nest ready once again!
Mom just laid two new eggs last week. I hope all goes well this time. It is too much of a heartache when things go wrong!
I do not plan on taking more pictures though. It takes work to keep this page updated! But I will enjoy the experience once again! Hopefully!
For all of those who are interested, I live in the West Los Angeles Area of sunny California, not too far from Venice Beach.
I have been living my life as usual, but trying to be
a good roomy as well. I still open my screen door which is right
next to the bird, and hang out on my balcony, listening to music, sometimes
even singing to the birds.
What a captive audience!
Click here to see other people's pictures of their birds!
If you have a picture you would like to share, please send it to me.
Thank you for all your email. So many people have written me that they are experiencing the same thing, from Maryland and Florida and Texas and Arizona, as well as many other places!
Please feel free to send me an Email. Hope you have a great day!
