Mourning Doves are common across North America, recognizable by their streamlined bodies and mournful cooing call. Finding their nest can be challenging, as their construction methods are unique. Understanding the nest’s appearance, location, and contents is the best way to confirm an active breeding site.
The Signature Flimsy Structure
The Mourning Dove nest is often described as a simple, flimsy assembly of materials. It is a shallow, loosely woven platform rather than a deep cup. The male gathers small twigs, pine needles, and grass stems, delivering them to the female. She arranges these pieces into a structure that often allows light to pass through the bottom.
This haphazard construction is a key identifier, often appearing messy with little structural integrity. The completed nest typically measures about 8 inches across and is built rapidly, usually over two to four days. This quick strategy allows doves to be prolific breeders, often raising multiple broods per season. Sometimes, doves reuse old nests from other species, adding a few materials to create a shallow depression.
Preferred Nesting Locations
Mourning Doves are adaptable, choosing various sites but preferring locations that offer protection and a stable base. Most nests are built in trees, often placed on a horizontal branch or within a crotch where branches meet. They favor dense foliage for cover, such as in evergreen trees, especially early in the season before deciduous trees have fully leafed out.
The height of the nest varies widely, commonly ranging from 5 to 15 feet off the ground. They readily use man-made structures. Common urban nesting spots include window ledges, rain gutters, hanging planters, eaves, and abandoned equipment. While most nests are built above ground, Mourning Doves occasionally nest directly on the ground, particularly where trees are scarce.
Eggs and Young
The contents of the nest provide final confirmation, as the Mourning Dove typically lays a small clutch. The standard clutch size is two eggs, which are pure white and lack spots or markings. The eggs are incubated by both parents for approximately 14 days; the female sits at night, and the male takes over during the day.
Once hatched, the young doves, known as squabs, are altricial—helpless, blind, and covered in sparse, yellowish down. Both parents feed the hatchlings a specialized, high-protein, high-fat substance called “crop milk,” produced by the lining of the parent’s crop. This nutritious secretion is the sole food source for the first few days before their diet transitions to seeds. The young grow quickly and are ready to fledge and leave the nest when they are about two weeks old.