Help with mourning dove (1 Viewer)

[Kateydidit]

I live in mass.
A month ago, a pair of mourning doves built a nest on my deck.
They successfully raised a chick,
And she promptly laid another clutch.
Their habits have been the same everyday. They change shifts to sit on the nest every morning and night.
Today, the female came to the deck while the male was on the nest. She’s just sitting on the table. Fluffed and preening. Just sitting there.
This is not their typical behavior .
Can someone tell me what is happening? I’m worried.
Cathy (from Mass)

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. Hopefully someone will be able to help you soon.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Katey and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. When a bird is all fluffed up, it's usually a sign that they're cold or not well, but they wouldn't normally preen under those circumstances.

I'll move your post to the Bird Behaviour section to see if they have any insight into this. Have you managed to get a picture, it might be helpful.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[duvgurl]

Hi Katey and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. When a bird is all fluffed up, it's usually a sign that they're cold or not well, but they wouldn't normally preen under those circumstances.

I'll move your post to the Bird Behaviour section to see if they have any insight into this. Have you managed to get a picture, it might be helpful.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

Thank you for being so welcoming to us new members. I saw this thread and immediately related. I am concerned because my dove that nested on my front porch only laid one egg. I have seen everyone else posting say that there have been multiple eggs. Is the egg okay? I believe that I have seen both a mom and a dad bird, and they continuously lay on the egg. But when looking in the nest there is just the one egg.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Duvgurl

The normal clutch is between 1-3, so having one egg is quite within normal ranges. Probably simply means that it is a young pair, and will lay more as they become more experienced. You really should not look in the nest while it is in use. You risk the nest being deserted or maybe even draw attention to it making it more likely to be predated.

You can read more about the Mourning Dove in our Opus article (at least I presume it is a Mourning Dove you're referring to) : Mourning Dove - BirdForum Opus

 

[duvgurl]

Hi Duvgurl

The normal clutch is between 1-3, so having one egg is quite within normal ranges. Probably simply means that it is a young pair, and will lay more as they become more experienced. You really should not look in the nest while it is in use. You risk the nest being deserted or maybe even draw attention to it making it more likely to be predated.

You can read more about the Mourning Dove in our Opus article (at least I presume it is a Mourning Dove you're referring to) : Mourning Dove - BirdForum Opus

Thank you for the information! I will look into the article and learn more about my new little visiting friends!