Mourning Dove Nest Cam Part 1

Mourning Dove Nest Cam Part 1 - building the nest thru laying the first egg.
This is the first of a multi-part educational series documenting a family of mourning doves nesting in a flower pot hanging from my garden shed. The filming was done using an inexpensive USB web camera connected to an old XP laptop located inside the shed. I used Nero Vision 10 software to capture and edit the video. The video is pieced together from hours and hours of recorded video footage.
I am no ornithologist (bird expert), but the captions in the video are based on my own observations. Teachers, please feel free to use this video content in the classroom. Feel free to comment below.

[@annecohen8927]

That flowerpot is so cozy and sturdy for the mommy as she prepares to give birth to her babies, it’s so much fun to see them live on video!!

[@suetychip3050]

So lucky to have a nest for them

[@kolaprabhakarrao6662]

To not disturb birds we are not using AC.they nested on AC cable

[@Ness1279]

How does they know to find your nest that you made for them?

[@Weird_Old_Uncle_Kenny]

The male searches for several nesting sites in his territory, and he will lure the female to ALL of them repeatedly over the course of a few days. SHE chooses which one she will lay in. In my case, the doves kept trying to nest in my hanging flower pots on my patio, which was in reach of my dogs. I tried putting things in the pots to deter them, but they kept returning. So I made this pot especially for them and hung it from the eaves of my garden shed where it was safe from the dogs. They moved in almost immediately, and they returned multiple times each year afterward. This was the 4th year the pot was in this location. Mourning doves will build their own nest if they have to, but they are very much opportunists, and will re-use an abandoned nest left by other birds, rodents, etc. They also readily accept a human-made nest like this one.

[@Ness1279]

Weird Old Uncle Kenny Weird Old Uncle Kenny, thank you for your reply! :-D It sounds like to me that those adorable Mourning Doves love to nest in one your pots and it is their favourite and top preference place to nest than the other locations around their territory. It could be one of a few of reasons that they’d prefer to nest in your pot because they feel comfortable and more safe to nest and have their offspring grow up in a safe place, than other places in the open that may be a bit dangerous for their offsprings’ life. Therefore, the other one reason that their nest is safe under the outdoor ceiling next to the windows from the changing weather and temperature. Also and that they are always warm and dry from chilly days in the early weeks of spring. Moreover, they have a permanent place to return to nest each year. :-) Can you make a nest a bit bigger for them, or purchase a better nest from animal supplies store? E.g., in Australia, we have a specialist store called City Farmers and they are our country’s leading provider of bulk of animal/pet food, garden and its fertilisers as well as gardening tools, and pool supplies, and so on. They also sell any type of pets, such as budgies and parrots. There are huge range of items that you can buy what you need in one stop. Sorry, I’m babbling. I just like to explain a bit what I mean to say. Or, does they do it themselves often? Have a fabulous day!

[@Weird_Old_Uncle_Kenny]

Yes, I guess I could have made it bigger, but this seemed like the ideal size to me (I already had the hanging pot). I've never seen a nest for sale, but then I never looked, I just made it myself from stuff I had lying around. The bottom of the pot is filled halfway with dirt, and then I built the "nest" out of dried grasses, weeds and pine needles, which are what they would naturally use in my area. I lay a flat layer on the bottom for a cushion, and then build the outside layer on in a circle, forming a classic "cup" nest shape. The final touch is the "landing pad", which is a piece of dried sunflower stalk on their "front porch". This probably isn't necessary, but it makes a convenient takeoff/landing platform, and also helps conceal the eggs from prying predator eyes. Being in the northern hemisphere, I put it on the north side of the building so it would always be mostly in shade. It's also as far back as I could get it so that cats and possums would have a hard time getting to it from the roof. I guess one of these days I should make a "how to" video...

[@michaelstroman1543]

@@Weird_Old_Uncle_Kenny That is amazing

[@michaelstroman1543]

The adults are cuter than the babies

[@DRose2Fast]

Yup

[@perrinheyman546]

Soo cute :3

[@nainlopez401]

.

[@sunshinechannel7125]

how do u prepare

[@Weird_Old_Uncle_Kenny]

Old flower pot, filled about halfway with fresh dirt from the ground, then placed some dry grass/weeds flat on the bottom, and more arranged in a circle around the edge, making a "cup" with a soft grassy bottom for the eggs. I hung mine from the eaves of my garden shed, out of the reach of my dogs. The finishing touch was the piece of dried sunflower stalk "front porch" which serves as a landing zone for the parents. Probably not necessary, but the parents seem to like it, and it helps hide the eggs from predators, somewhat. This setup worked for 2 years or so until the plastic pot hanger broke, so I made my own from wire coat hangers (Luckily, no one was nesting when it broke!). That's when i also installed the webcam. After every nesting, I clean out all the dirt, poop and grass, and rebuild it, otherwise it becomes infested with mites, which can harm the parents and kill the babies. The webcam was a cheap Logitech USB model, connected to an old laptop in the shed via a long USB cable, and recorded using Nero software in "capture" mode. I also used Nero to edit the videos. Not very high tech, but it worked. The following year I upgraded the webcam to a slightly better cheap Logitech webcam. You can see the nesting I filmed with the newer setup here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4vNgGurntialc0 Good luck!