A bird with the aerial view decides to nest

 Nesting Mourning Doves in southern Ontario aren't uncommon at all. But the timing for this one, the chance to photograph it from start to finish, and from the comfort of air conditioning over the course of those mostly hot and humid days of August, gave the opportunity to create this post.

 This pair didn't even start to build their nest, as sparse and flimsy as it was, until early August of this year. The vast majority of bird species have finished their nesting cycle weeks earlier, and some have even begun their southward migration. But for a year-round resident species, the lateness of the summer isn't all that much of a problem.

A pair of Mourning Doves (MODO) have attempted to nest at this spot in the past. On one occasion, they were at least partially successful. Building a nest of their style does not lend itself well to this particular location. The branches of the White Pine tree are quite smooth and getting a bit of nesting material to stay long enough to construct the next stages is next to impossible, especially if there is any wind. Nonetheless this pair persisted, and eventually they had what they thought would do the job.

In spite of the visibility of this nest location, photographing it was not without its challenges. If there was any kind of wind from a northerly direction, some pine branches got in the way at just the wrong time. And for any morning photos, which was generally the most active period, the nest was backlit. Overcast days were generally better for morning photos, but that put the ISO of the camera higher than I would have preferred. The mirrorless R7, which I used almost entirely for these photos, handled the increased ISO much better than my other DSLR cameras,

 They were well along at this stage, but still had some finishing touches to complete.

It was interesting to see some aspects of the nest building process. The male comes in with a bit of nesting material.....

...and then typically climbs onto the back of the female, which is sitting in the partially constructed nest, passes the material over and she decides where it is needed.

This next photo was taken on Aug 8 the first day of incubation of what presumably were two eggs, the typical number for this species.

Day 1 of incubation

I took a few photos over the next several days, but there wasn't a whole lot of difference to show. It was on Day 14, that the hatching began. Nothing really to see in this photo, but the adult's general actions indicated something was happening underneath. The adult kept getting up and looking at the eggs it was sitting on....

Day 14 after incubation begins

...and by Day 16, activity increased to the point where it was clear hatching had begun.

It was around this time that I was reminded of a well-known bird observer from many decades ago, who made numerous astute and detailed observations of a common nesting species, the Song Sparrow: it was Margaret Morse Nice, and you can find a bit of information on her at this link. She didn't have high quality optics and camera equipment available, but used her exceptional ability to observe detail, and record that. She was definitely ahead of her time, and contributed observations of bird behaviour for several decades.

I am not putting myself at the same level of observing and interpreting bird behaviour as she was, but I thought at least I had the optical and camera equipment available to document some things that I could. While MODO is a commonly breeding species, they don't often nest in such a location that has an accessible view.

During the first few days after hatching, there wasn't much to observe. I took a few photos, but by Day 21, 5 days after hatching the two young were much more visible. They grow quickly!

The MODO does not feed its young in quite the same way most other species do. The adults ingest their normal diet of seeds and then proceed to create 'pigeon milk' in their crop. The young, as shown in the photo above, then 'dig in' to the adult's mouth and either get to where the pigeon milk is waiting, or sometimes cause the adult to regurgitate some of the pigeon milk to a more accessible part of its mouth. This goes on during the entirety of the nesting period, and continues for even a couple of weeks after they have left the nest. Then they will eventually switch over to the normal MODO diet of seeds.

Most of the first few days the young, when not feeding, are content to sit low in the nest, barely visible. It seems the adults were getting a bit restless from time to time, probably to stretch to compensate for the long periods of just sitting.

Day 22

By Day 26, when the young were about 11 days old, they were much more visible and active in their own way.

By Day 29, they were getting quite large, and a crowded nest was more and more the case. When one tried to move around at the edge of the nest, it might have even lost its balance a bit. At least this caused it to develop its wing muscles in preparation for future air borne mobility.

I should mention that the vicinity of the nest seemed to have been kept clean. In many songbird groups, the adults remove the white fecal sac from the nest and immediate area so that predators have less to go on when looking for something to prey upon. I never saw the removal of white fecal sacs with the MODO. However I did frequently observe the adult poking around in the nest, and coming up with and even eating small dark things which I expect was what the young had eliminated from their digestive system.

The young were increasingly observed just by themselves at the nest. It was definitely getting more crowded.

Day 30

The next morning, on Day 31 and about 15 days after hatching, there was only one bird in the nest. It seemed a little more restless and it was observed moving around on the supporting branches beyond the nest itself.

Day 31

It spent a lot of time on the edge of the nest, looking for where its sibling had moved on to.....

---and discovered it was sitting at the edge of the garden, all by itself unless an adult came in to feed it.

Later that same day, the presumably younger bird had decided it was time to get out, and by mid-afternoon it too, had vacated its home and re-joined its sibling.

They were seen in or near the garden on a regular basis for several days afterwards, always on the ground, but with decreasing frequency.

By Day 38, they were seldom seen at all, and on occasion clearly had developed their flying capability to get to above ground locations. At this stage, they were looking more and more like the adults.

MODOs are still around the neighbourhood, and will be for the remainder of the year and beyond. But it is next to impossible to determine which are the youngsters that came from this nest.

If you would like to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com