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Birding/mourning dove mating

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Expert: Julia Booth - 4/9/2008


Question

Then there were three
Mourning doves are nesting in a flower pot on my fire escape.  The past few days I have spotted 2 other mourning doves on the adjacent railing appearing to do courting behavior. I have seen them fly onto my fire escape while the original is nesting.  They are displaying the same behavior as the first dove couple when they were shopping around for their nest.  Who are those two birds?  Is there any relation? Could one be from last years offspring.  (This is the second year my doves have nested in the same flower pot) Will doves nest so near each other?  Can doves have more than one spouse at the same time? Maybe these are mormon doves. Are these a second couple or a philandering spouse? Please advise.  Thank you.

Answer
Oh, nice picture. That's funny. Yes, doves nest in colonies and often in the same place from one year to the next. There's a chance they could be related, but there's really no way to know.

They are supposedly monogamous and mate for life. Both the male and the female care for the babies. They don't usually have threesomes. Perhaps the fourth wheel is the male and hasn't shown up yet. The picture is too blurry for me to sex them.

Many birds will nest right alongside one another. By my house there is a huge park and tree swallows nest along the eaves of the restrooms, sometimes as many as four to one side of the building.

If I left anything out, just let me know.

Julia

Julia Booth

Expertise

I can answer questions about bird identification (by sight or sound), behavior, distribution, population, conservation, mating, nesting, fledging and feeding. I do have some practical knowledge about foreign species, but identification skills are limited in that arena. Bear in mind that as much as I know, it's possible that at least some of you will ask a question that I am unable to answer. At which point I would direct you to wherever or whomever I thought could provide you with that information.

Experience

I have 15 years birding experience in Southern California.

Organizations
Audubon Society

Education/Credentials
My education is in art and photography -but I have a substantial portfolio of nature related work.

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