Hi everyone! I came across the forum while searching for some information. About 5 weeks ago I noticed a mourning dove sitting in the gutter of my house, obviously on a nest. She and her mate raised two seemingly healthy babies, and the last day I saw them in the nest one was standing on the edge of the rain gutter stretching his little wings. The next day both were gone, the parents were nowhere to be seen, and that evening I saw what I assumed was one of the (fully feathered) babies in my garden bed under the nest. He was pretty skittish, running from bush to bush, but did not fly off.
I gave him a few days, but he did not leave. I contacted a local rehabber who suggested I catch him and bring him to her, but when I attempted to do so he fluttered up to my roof. She told me to continue to watch him, and within 30 minutes he'd fluttered back down into the garden bed and has been there for close to a week total. In the early morning he tours my small front yard, picking at the grass and looking around. He flies fairly well across the street and back and flutters around my yard, but he *will not* leave and does not fly distances well!
Yesterday evening I felt just awful when I went out to check on him (I usually do this 3-4 times a day) and found a young, fully feathered dove dead in the garden bed. He appeared to have been deceased for awhile as his head was mostly bald and there was no blood; there was a hole in his skull. I removed him from the garden. I felt just sick that I had let this poor baby die. This morning I went outside to look mostly out of habit...and there was my little baby, still skittering around the garden bed (but NOT flying!). I assume this was his sibling then who I found last night.
SO...after that long-winded story...
1) What could have caused them to both end up on the ground (and not early best I could tell) and unable to fly?
2) Where are the parents?? Don't mourning dove pairs usually utilize the same nest during a breeding season?
3) Why is this seemingly healthy juvenile unable to fly, and why has he stuck around so close to "home"?
4) What is my best course of action, since every time I try to catch him, he flies off only to return within a few hours?
Thank you all for your patience of my long-windedness, and I look forward to any answers you may be able to provide!
Leigh
I gave him a few days, but he did not leave. I contacted a local rehabber who suggested I catch him and bring him to her, but when I attempted to do so he fluttered up to my roof. She told me to continue to watch him, and within 30 minutes he'd fluttered back down into the garden bed and has been there for close to a week total. In the early morning he tours my small front yard, picking at the grass and looking around. He flies fairly well across the street and back and flutters around my yard, but he *will not* leave and does not fly distances well!
Yesterday evening I felt just awful when I went out to check on him (I usually do this 3-4 times a day) and found a young, fully feathered dove dead in the garden bed. He appeared to have been deceased for awhile as his head was mostly bald and there was no blood; there was a hole in his skull. I removed him from the garden. I felt just sick that I had let this poor baby die. This morning I went outside to look mostly out of habit...and there was my little baby, still skittering around the garden bed (but NOT flying!). I assume this was his sibling then who I found last night.
SO...after that long-winded story...
1) What could have caused them to both end up on the ground (and not early best I could tell) and unable to fly?
2) Where are the parents?? Don't mourning dove pairs usually utilize the same nest during a breeding season?
3) Why is this seemingly healthy juvenile unable to fly, and why has he stuck around so close to "home"?
4) What is my best course of action, since every time I try to catch him, he flies off only to return within a few hours?
Thank you all for your patience of my long-windedness, and I look forward to any answers you may be able to provide!
Leigh
