Spotted Turtledove nesting
Spotted Turtledove
One morning last week while having breakfast I noticed a Spotted Turtledove flying frequently to a melaleuca bush near our sunroom. As we watched it flew down to the ground several times, each time collecting fine twigs and then it carried the twigs back to the nest. This went on sporadically over the nest few days.
Two days ago I searched the bush and eventually found the nest, complete with the female sitting on the nest. Like most doves and pigeons the nest is a flimsy affair, consisting of barely enough twigs to hold the eggs. How the babies manage to stay in the nest beats me. Mind you, I will give the birds full points for hiding this nest. It is very hard to find as it’s located in some very thick foliage. Should make photography of the babies quite challenging – perhaps not possible. They are easily spooked from the eggs or young so I might just let them get on with hatching the eggs and later feeding the young.
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Spotted doves are among my favourite birds. We have about 60 in our street (it’s hard to count exactly). They hang around with the crested pigeons who are a relatively new arrival.
These doves wouldn’t win any design awards for nests. Over the years I’ve found a number of their eggs which fall out. The best nest I saw was in our sweet peas. It was about shoulder height. I didn’t notice it until the young dove was almost grown. It must have got used to me because I walked past here all the time. After it launched out on its own it never seemed to be afraid of me. I even picked it up on some occasions and sat it on my knee for a minute or two. I had to start scaring it because it wasn’t afraid of my two terriers.
It was these doves which made me interested in bird nesting places. They badly need help. Of course they don’t use nest boxes. I’m trying out various kinds of shelves or ledges up in our melaleuca. It’s only a suburban backyard with two large shrubs. The birdbath and feeding table are a few metres away and they do nest in the top of the shrub. I suspect they want a bit of seclusion. I’ll be interested to see if I get any tenants.
These birds drive me crazy with their constant cooing each morning (and throughout the day) from our roof and outside our bedrooms. They are also dumb so if you chase them aeay they come back 15 mins later. They also breed like mad. They seem to be on every rooftop in our street!
The councils should cull them and ban people feeding them.
I agree with you Jane – although I do like the cooing of doves it can get monotonous and irritating after a few hours.
Where there are large numbers of doves and pigeons around buildings this can cause health problems, so my suggestion is to approach your local council if you have concerns on this matter. Some local authorities do undertake culling where deemed necessary.