Mourning Dove Family Part 2 (Hatching and raising young)

Part 2 of a twopart educational series about the nesting behavior of mourning doves. Follow our mourning dove pair, Ward and June, as they hatch their young and raise them. Filmed with an inexpensive USB web cam connected to my computer via a long USB cable. The webcam needed no maintenance, so there was no human interference or interaction with the birds at the nest. The events depicted are as nature directed, not me. I simply provided a convenient place for doves to nest, and a camera to record the whole thing. As the camera was running during nearly all of the daylight hours, this video was edited down from hundreds of hours of raw video footage. Many of my viewers ask me about the doves nesting in their yards, because mourning doves will nest just about anywhere. The main purpose of this film is to show you what's happening in the nest, so you don't have to disturb them in your yard. Please watch my films instead of disturbing an actual nest! Thank you. Teachers, please feel free to use this video content in the classroom.

Please note: this film depicts the loss of one of the babies when he left the nest due to a loud backfiring vehicle that passed by on the road behind my house. Many of you have asked why I didn't simply put "Beaver" back in the nest. The camera was operated remotely and automatically, and I was not home the day it happened, until late in the evening. When I got home, I reviewed the day's footage and discovered Beaver's exit from the nest. I immediately searched by flashlight. I searched again by daylight the next morning. No trace was ever found. Believe me, I would have put him back in the nest if he had been found. Either he managed to escape my garden on his own, or a predator may have gotten him. I watched and listened to every second of video from the time he left the nest until sometime after it got dark. I never discovered any evidence of his death nor any trace of his remains. And let me tell you, no one was more upset at his disappearance than I was! I can also tell you that his sibling, "Wally", did just fine and met up with the parents immediately after leaving the nest. In the final scene, if you look closely you can see "June" land on the fence, and you can hear "Ward" on the roof of the shed.

To watch the first half of the story, featuring nesting, laying and care of the eggs, see Mourning Dove Family Part 1.    • Mourning Dove Family  Part 1 (Nestin...