Nope, 6 feet isn’t an exaggeration or a typo. I actually measured the distance.
Several days ago while I was culling images on my desktop computer I noticed some unusual activity in my catalpa tree just outside my window to my left. It was a pair of Mourning Doves building their nest and as you can imagine it did get my attention! They were so close I almost could have opened the side window and reached out and touched them and they were so tame with me that close I think they might have actually let me.
I suspect they’d been working on the nest for some time so they were used to me sitting there during their construction project. When I’m working on a blog post or processing or culling images I’m pretty oblivious to everything around me so I hadn’t noticed all the activity just a few feet away.
I resurrected this older photo to give viewers some perspective (yup, that’s booze in my hand, I was thanking and toasting my blog readers in an older post and the photo is larger than I usually post). The nest is in the tree just outside my window and it’s less than a foot further away than the closest leaves you see. Catalpa trees leaf out late so there’s no leaves on the tree right now so the nest is very easy to see. In fact, given where it is I think it’ll still be in plain view even when the leaves come out (the actual nest is a few inches further to the left than we can see here).
You know me, I really wanted to photograph the nest-building activity but I was worried about disturbing them so it took me a day or so to figure out how I could photograph them without making them nervous. I removed a window screen (out of frame to the left), set up a camera on a tripod and pointed it in the direction of the opening toward the nest. The doves can’t see me because I have the window drapes hiding everything but the business end of my lens.
1/100, f/8, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 112mm, not baited, set up or called in
This is the female two evenings ago on the nearly completed nest (she isn’t incubating eggs yet). Usually the light in the tree is incredibly contrasty so I waited until just before sunset to take a few photos of her in the very low but golden light. Regular readers know that 1/100 second shutter speed is territory I almost never visit with my style of bird photography and in this very low light the only saving factor that allowed sharp shots was my use of a tripod and her lack of movement as I took the photo.
I learned something new while I watched them build their nest from my desk. I was surprised to see that most times when the male delivered a twig to the female on the nest he stood on her back as he presented it to her. Pigeons and doves have many similar behaviors and I raised pigeons as a kid but that was a behavior I don’t remember seeing in pigeons so I did a little research and sure enough, here’s what Cornell’s Birds of North America has to say on the matter:
- “Once nest site is chosen, male selects small twigs, etc., and delivers them to the female while standing on her back. She arranges them around her while using her body to form simple bowl”.
Common birds but an uncommon behavior and I was fascinated to see it multiple times.
1/60, f/8, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 112mm, not baited, set up or called in
Nine minutes later I had even less light but she had turned on the nest which gave me a different perspective.
The first egg is usually laid within two days of nest completion and that time frame will be up sometime today but I haven’t seen the doves for almost that long. During construction they’re usually only at the nest in the morning hours and lately I’ve been out shooting during that time so maybe they’ve been here and maybe they haven’t. It’s possible that they’ve abandoned this nest and moved on. I’ve avoided the area of the nest tree since I first noticed the doves but I do have close neighbors with little kids and that may have been just a little too much commotion for them.
I’ll be sad if they don’t return but I feel honored to have been allowed a peek into their world while I sat at my desk. I’ll keep readers posted either way.
Ron
Really cool experience for you and dove behavior.
I followed the link to “The Little Things That change Our Lives”. It was a lovely story of your devotion to your pigeons and the birth of your appreciation and love for nature. Is your friend, Dennis Ehlert, still in touch? Sometimes we don’t realize just how much our friends influence our lives. Dennis’ impact was significant and all of your followers are blessed and grateful.
No, I haven’t been in touch with Dennis for many years. The last time I heard anything about him he was still living in southern California.
Very cool! I’ve had mourning doves nest in my entrance deck flower pots 2 years in a row. We would daily come & go within 2 feet of them, but they stayed on the nest. It was so much fun watching the chicks fledge!
fantastic opportunity to observe and take images. I do hope they will stay.
Ron,
Amazing. You know that this kind of stuff seems to only happen to you!
Stephen (slightly green with envy)
That’s pretty darned exciting, keep us posted!
Charlotte
What a handsome dude in that first picture! You look relaxed.
What a wonderful narrative about the Mourning Doves nesting and the male bringing sticks and standing on the back of the female.
I, like your other readers, so much hope that the Doves come back to their nest 6′ from your window….how exciting. Glad you were able to capture the photos for all of us to see this nest building.
Thank you, Ron
Don’t think you got the handsome part right but you nailed the relaxed part, Alice. I’m in my element at that desk…
Don’t be so modest….
Your blog is very interesting and the photography is wonderful. I feed birds in my yard and have many mourning and eurasian collareds. Occasionally a pidgeon or two. The pidgeons roost under the freeway just about 7 blocks away but they don’t often show up in the yard. I have lots of other birds as well. I love them all.
Thank you, Betty.
I so hope they return! How lucky you are. I have quite a few doves that visit my feeders everyday. They are such calm birds. They won’t tell me where their nests are, I have asked many times. I do see their babies when they venture out. Enjoy Ron!
I hope to, Debbie. Thanks.
Isn’t it a privilege to be able to share space (and such close space) with birds. I do hope they are back, and am so glad you saw and were able to photograph behaviour which was new.
It sure is, EC!
I love how you respect the birds–all of them. And I love that it’s just who you are.
Hoping they haven’t departed. I’d love to watch a MODO nest/nestlings.
BTW, H3 finally exited the egg. YIPPEE! We now have three fuzzball bobbleheads at the Cornell redtail hawk nest cam!!
Thanks, Laura. I’m starting to think they might not be back. They weren’t here when I got home from shooting this morning at 11:30.
Ron, I loved your photos of the dove nesting and facts on the male involvement…yay! I currently have a Stellars Jay nesting on the brace of an overhang/ door roof. Their nest ( also male involved) from what I see, is thin hazel nut branches/ twigs , which are plentiful in the redwood forest where I live ( Scotts Valley, Ca). There should be hatchlings any day now (16 days incubation)…what a gift to be so close . Every time I check, I see bird beak/ long tail feather sticking out…I let the dogs out a different door now, so as not to alarm / worry her…
Nice pictures. I had the collar doves around my house and bird feeder all year long. This spring they had a nest in my pine tree in front, but the high winds we had blew the nest off the branch. When I was out raking around the tree I found two eggs on ground and not broken. So sad. I am sure they have another nest around some where. I know the robins have been around the area, but saw the first one in my back yard this morning, so know there will be a nest somewhere this year. Have fun and hope your doves return.
I hope they do too, Trudy. Thanks.
I love the two images in the second and third frames…she looks like she’s looking right at the camera, Am looking forward to a series of nesting and nestlings…(interesting info about back standing deliveries)…Bird with booze in the first frame is definitely the cutest and my favorite…judging by the smile, it’s probably some kind of leprechaun.
Yes, that first “bird” is pretty adorable! 🙂 I believe it is a little-known species called the “Bourbon Bird.”
Ha Patty, both you and Marty need to get your eyes fixed!
I’m contrasting the quiet joy of your respondents ( not to mention your own ) gained from their experiences with birds and the rest of the natural world with the nerve-jangling yesterday which I spent
in a very commercialized, traffic-ridden city about 70 miles away from where I live……..the difference just makes makes my head spin. I’m grateful to be able to spend some time each morning with your blog,
your beautiful work, and the kind of people who visit and share their appreciation and experience of the natural world with us each day……
Thank you for the kind words, Kris. And I agree with your evaluation of the folks who visit and comment on my blog.
Building a nest is backbreaking work. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist. I’ll show myself out now.) 😉
Lovely, I hope they return and raise offspring. Dove babies are an “adorable ugly”. It will be interesting if you can hear through the window their high pitch whistle they use to call when they are hungry.
“Dove babies are an “adorable ugly””
Yup, just like the pigeons I used to raise. I loved them anyway.
These photos are wonderful. I am so hoping the doves return and raise their family in your tree. With your expertise the photos of their progress will be fun and exciting to see. And, congratulations to this little mother. That nest, its location and construction, is one of the best I have ever seen from Mourning Dove parents whose nests are notoriously flimsy.
Thanks, Melanie. Yes, this female did a very good job on the nest, especially for the species.
I’m laughing Ron about you taking out the screens. I think we have three screens currently removed so I can take pictures through the windows of the nesting House Finches, an Anna’s Hummingbird nest, and a watering bowl. Also, remembering that I sent you a picture of an eagle breaking a branch to take for nest repairs, I saw a Great Blue Heron doing the same thing yesterday. They build their nests high up in the cottonwood trees in a riparian area. Yesterday I heard a loud cracking noise and sure enough one of them broke off a dead branch and carried it up to the nest.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
I have been watching Red-tail Hawks break branches off cottonwood trees to build nests. I did not realize they did this until I first saw it 3 years ago. I have seen 2 separate couples do the same so it must be common.
I’m jealous, Everett. I’ve still never seen a raptor harvesting branches directly from a tree.
Fascinating about the doves. I hope the doves decide to stay so we can all see the photos!
I hope so too, Jooanne. Not too optimistic at the moment though…
How fun! 🙂 The ones here are often fairly unperturbed by close human presence. We have them regularly nest in a spruce about 6′ off the ground and about that from the door. The low light hits the nest just right! Hopefully they will continue their project tho without the screen it will be a closed window for awhile! 😉
You’e right about that window, Judy. The only time I’ve opened it since I took the screen out was the one time I took these photos of the female.
Again… Great photos & thank you for sharing. (Always cking in to see which is The Bird of the DaY.)
This year I have a pair of doves that decided to make their nest on my front porch, on top of one of the pillars.
They’ve made a mess… first sticks in the pushed out. They were gone several days butt now back & I noticed yesterday she did stay thru the day.
I think I’ll be seeing them stay. I too wanted to take pictures… butt they are too high for me to do w/out disturbing them. I’ll enjoy your pictures instead.
CJ, doves usually make pretty sloppy nests but I thought this female did a good job.
Ron – another thing we have in common beside the love of birds and all things in Nature is that we both raised pigeons in our much younger days. One very nice thing that my Dad did for me was to build a very nice loft to keep them and myself happy. Had Trumpeters, Fantails, Homers and Jacobins. Life was much simpler then…
Mark, I had all the same breeds you did and also Tipplers, Rollers, Fantails, Helmets, Frills and I think a couple of others. I went overboard.
I built my first pigeon coop at about 10 years old. A photo of it can be seen in the link below if you’re interested. If you see it you’ll know why I eventually went into teaching instead of the construction trades!
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2016/12/09/the-little-things-that-change-our-lives-2/