Disappearing Dove Eggs (1 Viewer)

[Allen In Houston]

Hello everyone,

My name is Allen. I'm new to the forum. I joined figuring many of you could possibly help answer my questions.

Recently I noticed TWO doves nesting in the front and back gutters of our house. The dove in the back set up a nest in the gutter under an overhang. I set up a live web cam above it, out of the way, about a week ago and have been watching the dove nesting.

Yesterday, near the end of the day, I noticed she (I think) had moved one of the eggs and left it uncovered. I didn't watch for awhile, but later it appeared she was back on it before nightfall.

Well, this morning I fired up the web cam and saw her on the nest. She started moving around and finally flew away. Much to my surprise there were NO eggs in the nest. I saw her on the back patio eating at some seed there. A mockingbird was giving her a hard time and they got into a little scuffle.

After they left, I brought out the ladder to check the gutter. No eggs or sign of egg shells. Nothing on the ground around the house. The eggs have disappeared.

Would another bird maybe came and got the eggs at some point when the dove wasn't there? After doing some research online, I found out the doves nest several times a year (I thought they only did that in the spring), so will she likely return?

Any ideas?

Thank you,
Allen

 

[Guinness537]

Could it have been a nocturnal predator like a raccoon. That would explain the lack of evidence of what happened to the eggs(broken shells etc.).

 

[Allen In Houston]

Could it have been a nocturnal predator like a raccoon. That would explain the lack of evidence of what happened to the eggs(broken shells etc.).

Possibly, but I've never known of any to be in our area. The gutter is about 9 or 10 feet in the air.

 

[fugl]

Possibly, but I've never known of any to be in our area. The gutter is about 9 or 10 feet in the air.

Sounds like avian predation to me--crow, jay, grackle, whatever. Other possibilities, assuming the nest was accessible to them, are snakes (big nest robbers in many places) or rodents (rats, squirrels). None of these creatures would necessarily break up the nest, but might just swallow the eggs whole or carry them off undamaged. Doves are prolific breeders & lose a lot of nests--if they didn’t we’d be swimming in them--and if it still survives your pair will probably lay another set of eggs somewhere else in due course (if they have a choice, most birds tend to avoid building a second nest in the same place where they’ve lost a first).

 

[Allen In Houston]

Thanks for the reply.

I thought it was strange the day before the eggs disappeared she ignored one of the eggs and would not sit on it for awhile.

I'll also need to check to see if the dove in the front gutter is still there.


Allen