Expert: Julia Booth - 4/24/2009

Question
I live in the Hunan province of China.  A chinese spotted dove, Streptopelia
chinensis, built a nest and laid an egg on a ledge right outside of our 6th
story window.  She laid it about 3 weeks ago, I think.  However, she left for 2-
3 days this week and just returned (she's sitting on it again).  According to the
internet, the egg should have already hatched.  Also, I was concerned when
she left it.  Has it been too long? Do you think it still has a chance of
hatching?  Don't the mothers usually know when something is wrong?

Answer
It's possible that the egg she's sitting on isn't actually fertile. Doves are not very smart and would continue sitting on the egg, whether it was fertile or not. No they don't know that it's a dud. But the fact that she has left the nest does not automatically mean the egg is not viable.

I would keep an eye on her and see if anything changes. That's really all you can do.


Julia