Squirrels and Mourning Doves

Phil Elmore

Phil Elmore

Joined
Feb 28, 2002
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For over a year I've been blogging about various visitors to our home -- specifically, semi-tame squirrels and quite untamed mourning doves. Last year, we had some mourning doves nest in a pile of Christmas tree lights I had forgotten about (after placing the lights on top of an air conditioner under an overhang to dry). Eventually, the single dove born in that nest flew away and the doves departed, but the local squirrels started showing up to eat the food we'd put out for the doves. This season, the second half of the dove nesting cycle, we had doves again in the same location, and this time they had two hatchlings.

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If you've not heard a mourning dove before, their soulful cry is very soothing and is a wonderful thing to wake up to on a spring or summer morning. The two babies have started to morph out of the "scaly toad" phase and will be flying soon.

The older entries of my blog contain last season's dove-and-squirrel roundup for any who are interested, at http://www.myspace.com/phil_elmore.
 
i have some mourning doves too...she had 2 babies that hadn't even flown away and she had already laid 2 more eggs...I used to own a ringed neck dove too...her name was lila and she was one of the best pets i've had...she would stay on my shoulder unlike a parakeet i used to have who was just mean..nice pics
 
The parents showed up today together and there was a lot of flapping on the part of the two babies tonight. Then the father flew away, and the mother settled in with the two babies more or less as you see in these shots. They look even more like miniature doves now, and less moist and scaly.
 
Great pictures! Christmas doves. :)

We see them around here all the time, almost always in pairs. The long slim build and upright paired seating on wires overhead is distinctive and makes them easy to identify from a distance. Although several pairs will gather to feed in the open, they don't seem to flock like the larger pigeons when they fly off.
 
They're very inoffensive birds. I've seen them congregate in low scrub bushes at the edge of an old drive-in near where I live.
 
They're a tasty treat wrapped in bacon with a jalapeno slice and barbequed. Watch out for the lead shot, though.
 
Sharp Phil said:
They're very inoffensive birds. I've seen them congregate in low scrub bushes at the edge of an old drive-in near where I live.
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That kind of depends on where they nest.

For the last two years we've had doves nest in a notch under the roof right by the front door. Wrong place. This year we wadded up a plastic tarp and stuffed it into the notch. No mess this year.
 
Black oil sunflower seeds are like squirrel crack. It's amazing to watch them just eat and eat. Remove the food source and the squirrels pretty much disappear, though they'll come back if you start putting out food again (which I guess means they can smell it).

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In one of the older entries I tried to feed them a Hannah Montana bar. They refused it.
 
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Both doves greeted the sunrise this morning, looking determined. They've been making little sorties to the balcony railing and back again. They'll be gone soon, and we'll miss them.

More pictures and a full update are on the blog.
 
The squirrels here at my mothers house are as tame as can be. My mom feeds them out of her hand. Crazy.
 
They're actually really easy to tame, if you're just patient with them. Squirrels are Nature's most accessible rodent.
 
Shave the tail and they are rats that live in trees. However, they do have one thing going for them that rats do not. They are also tasty when barbequed.
 
Thanks for posting the pictures Phil, Great thread.:cool::thumbup:
 
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