Then I noticed a female (can’t ID individuals) sitting in the nest box, followed the next morning by a male.
I thought this was a bit early for another crop.
Yesterday evening, I went out and saw the nest unoccupied - I grabbed the ladder and sneaked a peak - did not touch anything.
I saw one egg - can’t see the entire nest - too close to roof - and withdrew.
Neither the male nor female have been seen today - going on 24 hours of 90-something to 60-something.
I’ll leave it - just in case it can hatch and/or parents return.
I’m guessing something happened to the female (Mourning Doves mate for life), causing the male to abandon the project.
I have a record written down somewhere of the first couple, but I’m not sure where that is now. They were out there on the balcony about as long as this couple, slightly longer, so it’s probably about the same for them, maybe about 18 or 20.
I hope everything’s okay out there. Mama’s on the nest, and her we can’t move like Dad, so we don’t know what’s going on. But still no squab late last night, and I’m not detecting movement underneath her feathers.
Yes, five years ago with the first couple who lived on our balcony. The male just disappeared, presumably something happened to him, and the female broke down. Rejected her squab of just a few days, found a new mate who attacked said squab (poor little Bob) and eventually started having sex with any male that came along including Henry, a regular visitor here these past five years and the main one in the group. (He’s Ladyboy’s father and for all we know the father of The Bully too. That’s the couple living here now.) We tried to raise Bob but ended up killing him by overfeeding him, poor little guy.
Don’t worry about touching anything. That’s just a myth. The birds won’t care at all, and I don’t think their sense of smell is even all that well developed. It may not be too early for more eggs. Our pigeons usually lay new eggs about two weeks after the previous ones hatched, before the squabs can even leave the nest. By then, we’ve moved the squabs to another box to give Mama room, and Dad does most of the parenting.
I know of no hunting in the area, so either traffic or predator (22:00 and no sign - about 26 hours unattended.
The first clutch were laid on one of those bulb holders designed for 2 large lamps. This one has shrouds for the bulbs, and they tried to build a nest in the “saddle” between the bulbs. Dove nests are about te same quality as pigeons - crap. I only saw one offspring, but my research said two - always, forever, clutch = 2 for Mourning Doves. After they left, I took down the few bits not already dislodged - and there was egg #2 - it had fallen through and was resting directly on the fixture.
That was the only egg that had not at least hatched.
For how long (days) can you handle the squabs before they can fly more than 10 feet?
I was taking pics of mama and one squab visible beside her wing - I thought it was still too small to fly. Wrong. Only the one left - abandoning the other. I assume dad got it to follow him - it was gone the following afternoon.
With the pool just 10 feet away and dogs on both sides and the rear, I don’t want to induce a panic flight that can’t be sustained.
It looks like the little guy who was trying to break out hasn’t made it. There was a sizable hole in the side of the egg this afternoon, about 24 hours after we saw the first chink in the shell, and there was movement. But tonight the hole is the same size, and all movement has stopped. I think it died. No ants this time for sure, I’ve been keeping water in the base dish underneath the tree pot. The other egg is not showing any signs of life yet. Poor Ladyboy. The other time both eggs didn’t hatch, she went into deep mourning for a couple of weeks. It was so bad that we thought she was sick and were preparing to take her to a vet. Then she snapped out of it.
Will let you know if anything new happens on the eggs.
The first egg started to hatch, then the poor little squab died before it could come out. It was clearly dead, I could see it through the hole in the egg, so I removed that one.
The parents are still sitting on the other egg, but it’s Thursday morning here, and that egg is 20 or 21 days old, depending on which one it is. I’m waiting until the weekend just to make absolutely sure it’s not going to hatch, but really the time has passed. We’re wondering if age is a factor since we know Ladyboy is four years old. That’s getting up there for a feral pigeon, we hear.
Ladyboy went into mourning the last time she had two eggs that didn’t take. I hope she’ll be okay this time.
Meanwhile, Woody from the latest batch, six weeks old tomorrow, left home a week ago but still returns in the daytime sometimes for a visit. Still squeals when he sees Dad. Cute. His sister Zoe still stays here at night, as do Emmy, Jamie and Rose. All females, we’re pretty sure. Emmy turns six months old tomorrow, which I believe is sexually mature for a pigeon, so maybe she’ll go find a mate soon. She and Jamie keep fighting over the same spot on the rails at night, and we have to squirt them with water to break it up.
Friday mornig and there’s been a significant development. Ladyboy was jumping up into the window asking for food – she must have detected my movements between the closed curtains like they often do – and when I looked out … the egg was gone! Upon closer inspection, the egg was lying over near our door. I figure The Bully must have finally tried to dispose of it like he does the eggshells, but how he managed even to pick up an intact egg is a good question.
But the egg had a big hole in it, presumably where it hit the ground, and I could see inside. Just some yolkish substance. It never developed at all, unlike the other egg where the squab tried to hatch but then died. I figure Possibly The Bully could have rolled it up and over the edge of the tree pot. Maybe? Then rolled it over toward our door. Dunno. It’s a mystery.
So no eggs right now and no new squabs. Woody is six weeks old today, Zoe tomorrow. And Woody is still back visiting in the daytime.
Whatever way The Bully managed to get the egg out of the nest, he apparently forgot to notify Ladyboy. The poor little Mama seems to be looking for it! She’s standing and staring in at me, mostly ignoring any food I put out. I’m sure she thinks I must have done something with it. She’s not really mourning per se though, like she did last time she had two dud eggs. At least, not yet.
The good news is that Ladyboy has not gone into mourning like the last time neither egg worked out. Maybe that previous time was the first time and now she’s not so shocked by it anymore, dunno.
But we expect more eggs soon, as they are again screwing like teenagers. Several times a day. And half the time we hear The Bully cooing his mating call to her, loudly despite the door being closed. They’ll hang out and “cuddle” in the flower box but still seem to be hanging around the tree pot such that we think they’ll still lay the new eggs there. (We keep pointing out to them that they are lucky in that most pigeons don’t have furniture. Not sure if the message is getting through.)
We’ll be upcountry again for a few days in a couple of weeks, so they’ll be on their own again. That must always be a rude surprise to them when that happens.
And we have another egg. Laid yesterday evening (Friday evening). They have indeed chosen the flower box this time. Seem to have transferred many of the twigs in the previous nest in the tree pot into the flower box. The rainy season is starting up, and we’ve had some heavy downpours this week, so I’ve pulled the box back to protect it from the rain.
We expect the second egg tomorrow and hatchings to begin on September 15. Hope it goes well this time even though the usual crowd here at night now don’t show any signs of leaving soon. I wonder why Woody decided to leave. He still visits in the daytime.
No, we keep moving it around. The flower box and the tree pot are both in about the same place, but whether it’s by the edge of the balcony or farther back doesn’t seem to matter to them. I suspect because it’s roomier is why they like it.
Something odd. Hopefully, it’s just a case of molting, as there are a lot of feathers out on the balcony. But The Bully’s tail suddenly looks a little chewed. He had some black tail feathers, and those are all gone. All that’s left is some shaft-looking things. Hope he didn’t have a close call somewhere.
Indeed. We’re thinking more and more something happened. Cat? Lawn mower? I’ll try to take a picture of his tail tomorrow.
Ladyboy doesn’t seem completely happy with the flower box now. She mostly keeps standing over the egg instead of settling on it. She’s settled down now, but that’s probably because it’s late and she’s tired. Seems a little nervous. I’ve read it’s the male that determines where the nest is, but she seemed to be interested in the flower box before too.
Still no second egg, but she always lays them two days apart, so we expect it tomorrow.
Just a small update. We’ll be taking a long weekend outside of Bangkok but back long before the hatchings will start. No doubt they’ll all appreciate the quiet time but may get a little irked at missing out on the goodies for a few days. But it’s happened before.
I’d hoped to get a few more photos up, but I don’t think I’ll have the time even though we’re not leaving for a couple more days. The PC is crashed, I’m on the wife’s notebook or whatever they call this thing, and I need to run some sort of software. I hate technology!
Tuesday afternoon and we’re back. All is well out on the balcony. The nest and eggs remain in place. The Bully seemed surprised to see us again. Wonder if anyone left while we were gone. Will find out this evening. Workmen back out on the building today, so no snackies until tonight. Can’t clean until evening either.
ETA for hatchings is six days from now. Hope it goes well this time.
Not only do we have the whole crew still here, and decidedly glad to see us, but Woody has returned after a three- or four-week absence. He’d stop by in the daytime occasionally and even slept over once last week, but somehow tonight feels more permanent.
And little Bo hatched this morning (Tuesday morning).
He seems healthy, but I’ve only gotten one, very brief glimpse of him. I saw Mama’s feathers moving from something wiggling underneath, so I touched her tail, and when she turned to wing-slap me, she turned just enough I could see him. Wiggly little guy.
He started coming out yesterday morning, but by nightfall there was still only a small hole. We were worried another one had died trying to break out. But I could still feel movement when I picked up the egg.
Meanwhile, two-month-old Woody, after an absence of several weeks except for some daytime visits, recently decided to start staying here at night again. Dunno why. But now the nighttime pigeon population is going up. Except 5-1/2-montth-old Jamie was gone last night, so maybe they’re starting to find mates. Little three-month-old Rose has taken to jumping up in the window and peering in, apparently out of curiosity since she does it even if there’s food out there.
No ants this time for sure, I’ve been keeping water in the base dish underneath the tree pot. The other egg is not showing any signs of life yet. Poor Ladyboy. The other time both eggs didn’t hatch, she went into deep mourning for a couple of weeks. It was so bad that we thought she was sick and were preparing to take her to a vet. Then she snapped out of it.