To give you an idea of scale, this is the left side of our patio...
Here is the right side and far up in the right hand corner you will see an electrical box. I took these pictures on Saturday morning and the light wasn't the best but if you click on the picture, you will be able to get a closer look.
For the past 3 years a Mourning Dove couple has started to build a nest up there but the twigs would just slip off. After a few days they would give up.
I kept thinking that if they had a bit of a ledge to build on, they might be more successful. I started to look around for a very shallow basket and then spotted an empty napkin box on my counter. I cut it so it wasn't so tall, and Phillip thumbtacked it to the wall.
I wasn't expecting them to come back but the very next morning they were back to building a nest. Can you see the mama up there??
I was lucky enough to get a shot of the Dad. He brought back a twig every 10-15 seconds, all morning long.
I'm pretty sure the eggs have been laid and we can't wait to see the new babies. I have stopped vacuuming my patio carpet for the next two months. The sacrifices we make for house guests. ;0)
41 comments:
Such a treat!! I am a huge bird fan and love when we get to enjoy babies. We had two baby cardinals in our yard last year and a baby mockingbird. I've never had mourning dove babies. A great "in the moment" homeschool lesson, eh?
Enjoy your new neighbors!
Bird's really are amazing to watch. I can occupy myself for ages just sitting on our back deck. And I definitely could forgo vacuuming for such a guest as that! ;o)
By the way your garden flowers are just so lush and lovely!!!! We are drying up to a little brown twig in TN. Where, oh, where is the rain??? It's years like these, I really feel for our farmers.
Oh, how lovely!!!!
By the way, I LOVE your new blog look!
Take it from me - you will have SO. MUCH. FUN.
I did some research for you in our bird encyclopedia. Here is what it says:
~a long breeding season
~loose nest of twigs
~2 white eggs
~incubated for around 2 weeks
~incubated by BOTH parents
~chicks in nest for 16 days
~2-4 broods per season
Have fun!
How exciting! Keep us posted! :o)
I'm sure you andyour children will enjoy watching this fun part of nature and birdwatching!
xo
Isn't it always amazing the places birds will use to make their nest! For them to have come back to make the nest, they were determined it had to be in that spot! lol We have mourning doves nesting in one of our spruce trees at the front of the house...I love those birds!! xox
How sweet! I can't wait to see the babies, hopefully you can take some photos without disturbing them. I wonder what they eat and if you could have some of their favorite food around?
How sweet and thoughful of you.
Susan
Great pictures Kelli. Doves will build a nest in almost anything. Many times they choose someone's hanging basket. I hope you get to see the babies!!!
How wonderful for you! I love doves! Are the children excited?
Terri
How wonderful that you put that up there for them. It will be so neat to be able to watch them grow.
We've enjoyed watching all the wildlife visitors in our backyard this year. What a wonderful idea to use the basket. They always seem to love my hanging plants.
Your patio is lovely!!! However I know how it Is to feathered friends inhabit a spot around your home. We have them just outside our front door!!! Hubby cleans daily and has threatened to get rid of the nest but I wouldn’t have it! They have become part of our daily window watching J we can see them from our front door!
What a sweet and simple reminder of Gods' love for you and your family!
LOL! Who do those birds think they are! We had birds do this one time on our front porch. I had a wreath hanging out there and they claimed the top of the wreath as their building site! It was fun to watch the whole process and in no time we had five baby birds chirping away!
What a great idea to place the napkin box there and give them a "head start"! We have a couple of barn swallows that return to our porch every year and raise two families each summer. What fun to watch them take care of their young! Also...I loved the pictures of many of your beautiful flowers!! I just planted some varigated Lantana in our front yard. It has turned so hot thought that I'm having to be sure to water each day!! I think summer is offically upon us! Blessings, Diane
That's so neat that they adopted the box you put out for them!!
We had a robin build a nest right on a wreath on the front door once, that was fun to watch. Right now we have barn swallows that made a mud nest on a tiny electical box on the front porch.
How exciting to watch!! This year we had a couple of Killdeer birds make their nest in our gravel drive (I wrote about them on my blog) and it was so fun to watch!! Those moms sure do work hard ~Dads,too :)
Heather
Kelli, that it just too neat! And I'm glad you got such a great picture of the bird. Bless your heart for being so caring~
Wow! I am absolutely terrified of birds, the only birds that don't give me the heebee jeebeeies are doves, (I guess it's the whole Bible thing) and large raptors. I love to watch doves in the backyard. They always remind me to be as harmless as a dove.
Thank you for sharing.
So cute, every couple of years I have finches making a nest in my hanging baskets on the porch. The plant dies because I wont water them incase there are babies in the nest, so I let me beautiful flowers wither and die! It's too cute. How nice you were to help them out!
Kelli, how sweet of you to make a place for them to nest! Most people I know don't want them on their porches or patios. We have a couple (I guess it's the same ones) that build on our porch post every year. We love to watch their progress and look forward to watching their babies learn to fly.
Oh how sweet!!!!! I am quite sure that Mrs. Bird and her family are quite happy with the new "furniture" for her home!!!
His,
Mrs. U
Oh, you'll love watching this family grow. At our former house, we had a family of barn swallows above our patio door each year. Such fun to watch those babies!
We must all make such sacrifices.
I loved the tease you posted and now we get the whole picture. What a hospitable person you are!
How fun! I know your kids are going to love watching the baby birds!
Oh Kelli, I am so far behind with my blog reading, so many nice things have been happening here! The birds are a treat and I can't wait to see if there will be babies there soon! Your kitchen looks so neat!
As usual, you're very sweet and thoughtful to ALL your guests! LOL We enjoy bird watching here as well, and we have a bird feeder right in front of our large living room window...so we get a front-row seat! LOL
It's really, really HOT here in south Georgia as well!
Thanks for sharing!
Amy
Your patio is lovely!
Hi Kelli:)
What a great action shot you got with the daddy bird in flight. I so enjoyed this post:)
Julieann:)
That was cute...the sacrifices you have to make as far as vacuuming goes...adorable! Wish I had visitors like that "inside" my house :)
How lovely that you have such sweet visitors. Glad you were able to take that pic and share it with us. How fun that you'll be able to peek in on their daily musings.
Love the sacrafice you have made for these "guests" of yours. Too fun. Can't wait to see more!
Thanks for wishing me luch in my class. I was not very useful today. They talked about homework for two hours. I kept track. I don't give homework or not much at least. Oh well one day down one to go. Love birds.
This is going to be so special for your children to see! My friend Rosa has doves nesting on her front porch and they've two eggs to keep an eye on. I'm looking forward to seeing the babies, and now these babies too.
Your patio is so pretty Kelli.
You're a wonderful hostess. :-D
Oh Kelli how wonderful to have new "house guests", I am sure your kids are already quite excited a about the nest, aren't they?
Kelli, the cushions on the sofa on the first picture look interesting! It reminds me that I still need to sew new cushions (with a floral design) for our new garden bench in the rose corner)!
Have a wonderful day!
Best wishes from Germany,
Anita
That is the sweetest story. What a good landlord you are--Making renovations to the property for your tenants!
Kelli, I enjoyed reading about your porch guests...I had a nest in my kitchen window box and enjoyed watching Mama and Daddy and their babies....She was so diligent in feeding them, singing to them....just doing the Mama things.....So much we can learn from nature....
Thanks for the visit...Betty
How wonderful to have those visitors. All I have is every type of insect imainable. If we were doing insect collections we could get a variety of things in one day.
I do hope your guest are succeed in their task and that you get some awesome pictures!
Blessings,
Trella
I love doves! That will be really exciting to watch the progress of the eggs and chicks. Your patio is really pretty, too!
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