Mourning Dove Nesting Platform

Members of a pair preen each other with gentle nibbles around the neck as a pair bonding ritual.

Mourning dove nesting platform. Nesting materials may be placed in the bottom of the cage as your mother dove will build a nest just as she would in the wild. Eventually the pair will progress to grasping beaks and bobbing their heads up and down in unison. It always amazes me where a bird may decide to build a nest and these birds are no exception. Our nesting shelf attracts birds that prefer a platform to nest on such as robins and mourning doves which do not use traditional birdhouses.

The mourning doves coo may sound sad but bird watchers know that it signals the beginning of this birds habits of nesting claiming territory and raising young. Here is an american robin in the process of building a nest in a nest ledge box located under the house eave providing some shade and protection from the weather. The mourning dove platform has extra room under a gable roof for the larger back yard platform nesters. Mourning doves commonly build nests in hanging flower pots or other.

Make from cedar pine or almost any softwood. This year i want to add some nesting platforms. Robins phoebes mourning doves and blue jays may nest on this platform. Barn swallows mourning doves cardinals and blue jays will also use nesting platforms too.

All nesting containers should be level but it is critical that the platform be level and well secured. The front of the platform should be open while the sides partly open. If you re eager to attract these breathtaking birds into your yard the robin nesting ledge is the perfect way to make them feel welcome. Mourning dove nest box plans doves arrange not nest in titanic model plans tree cavities or nest boxes.

Robins are far more easily attracted to platforms than are mourning doves and blue jays. A dove can be contented to build a nest on a plank or platform secured to the side of the cage. This platform has an 8 by 8 base approximately an 8 ceiling an open front and partially open sides. Mourning doves sometimes reuse their own or other species nests.

Mourning doves robins and blue jays. Choose a spot about 10 to 15 feet off the ground. I ve made regular and triangular birdhouses and they have both been used for several broods each season. The purpose of a nesting platform is to simulate an isolated cliff crevice.

Although they do not need a nest cone per se the cone does give them a solid base for their flimsy nest and may encourage them to nest in more convenient locations e g away from one s potted plants. I read in my trusty audubon bird book that robins blue jays and mourning doves can be convinced to use nesting platforms. Mourning doves may nest two or three times in succession. Mourning doves are versatile and will nest in a wide variety of situations.