Mourning doves: hatching, fledging and leaving the nest

So we have this 3-tier planter on our front porch that is roughly 6.5 feet tall. The bottom is a round metal basin full of dirt, the middle a wooden box full of dirt, and at the very top a nook full of dirt. The top is made to look like a roof with shingles.

This spring, before we were able to plant anything, a mourning dove pair beat us to the space. It was interesting watching them lay there all day and night, seeing the tiny eggs, then the hatchlings and their growth. Little did we know mourning doves are prolific! They are now on their 5th pair of eggs (known as a clutch). The ones here are hatchlings 7 and 8.

According to wiki, mourning doves:
- Always lay 2 eggs
- Can lay up to 6 clutches
- Both male and female incubate
- Incubation is approx 14 days
- Fledging is approx 11-15 days

So at the sight of the 4th pair of eggs, I grabbed an old IP camera, set it above their nest and had it take a shot every minute and upload it to the interwebs. I saved all the shots to make a time lapse movie. These roughly 21,000 pics are of the 4th clutch from hatching to fledging until both leave the nest. Using time lapse, I have confirmed the male incubates from approx 10am - 7pm and the female from 7pm - 10am.

There were a few corrupted images the camera sent, so those were deleted. Additionally, there are 2 parts where the camera went offline and so several hours may be missing. Other than those, this video shows the first beginnings of a new clutch, from hatching, fledging and leaving the nest.

The video is at roughly 23 frames per second. This means one second shows a 23-minute span of the doves.

Music: Ravel - Bolero (this piece starts off lower than pianissimo, so you have to turn your volume up high to hear at first. By the end it is fortissimo).

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• mourning
• dove
• hatch
• fledging
• clutch
• nest
• incubate
• ravel
• bolero
• time
• lapse

[Xarlor1]

@breyernakotalover I assume you meant 13:50, but yes, the other baby flew off for good. Each egg was layed roughly 1 - 1.5 days apart. Each baby hatched roughly 1 - 1.5 days apart. Likewise, the first baby flew away 1 - 1.5 days before the second. The mom layed an egg as soon as the first baby flew off.

It came back at around 14:45 for one last rest (and to torment its younger sibling) before leaving for good. Shortly after the second was gone, mom layed the second.

[breyernakotalover]

so around 3:50 i see two doevs and then suddenly oen dove... ddi the other baby fly out or fall? and why is there another egg?