Our Mourning Dove Wyze Webcam - Nest, Eggs, & Baby Chicks?

[casportpony]

Amazing! @CCUK, @WVduckchick, @Pyxis, come check this out!

 

[CCUK]

This is brilliant! It almost looks like she knows that she is being watched by the way she looks straight at the camera! That egg is teetering a bit too close for comfort. Has she pulled it back in?

 

[backyard pigeons]

Oh, and one of the really big concerns / potential issues: I've had doves make a nest in this exact location in the past (in fact, I think these ones "reused" an old nest), and it's a spot where I believe squirrels have gained access and eaten the eggs.

We're REALLY hoping that doesn't happen here... it would be incredibly sad

do you know the squirrels route to the nest? Perhaps you could add vasoline so the squirrels can't climb to the nest. It wouldn't affect the doves if they got any on them, but they shouldn't get any on them because they fly and squirrels dont...

We had quite a scare!!!

We were scrolling through the "playback" recorded yesterday and saw this:
View attachment 2071153

She has an egg teetering on the edge of the nest!?!?!


We went through the earlier footage and found out what happened:

What?!?!? Can't believe she did that!

Maybe she doesn't want more than two eggs? Maybe she knows that one isn't viable?!?!

Then we saw this video... our hearts were racing! Every time she moved, it looked like she was going to bump the egg out of the nest!!

She almost gave us a heart attack watching!!!

she did not intentionally remove the egg. she was rolling the eggs so the embryo won't begin sticking to one side. Quite interesting to watch, but not up when an egg is at risk! The larger clutch may make turning the eggs a bit harder for her, but she should manage!

I'm glad the egg was recovered! Hopefully it doesn't happen again.

 

[WVduckchick]

So awesome! I have 5 Wyze cams (only 5, at the moment haha) watching my yard and birds, and I absolutely love them too! I’ve placed them on broody ducks and pigeons, and it gives such a unique perspective that we rarely get to see.

I had a cardinal nest outside my bedroom window last year, put one of the cams on it. A few days after the addition of the 2nd egg, the eggs were gone. I knew it was too soon for them to have hatched. I tracked back to discover a ground squirrel had raided the nest and ate the eggs.

Good luck to the gorgeous doves! This is going to be fun to follow along.

Does the pair swap out time sitting on the eggs like pigeons?

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

do you know the squirrels route to the nest? Perhaps you could add vasoline so the squirrels can't climb to the nest.

I've seen squirrels get to the nest in years past. It's actually quite easy for them to access, but very hard (if not impossible) for us to block them from accessing without also blocking the doves. Them building a nest in such an easy-access spot over and over isn't helping my GF's perception of their intelligence

Quite interesting to watch, but not up when an egg is at risk! The larger clutch may make turning the eggs a bit harder for her, but she should manage!

Yes, it was VERY stressful!

We were frantically scrolling through a ton of footage to try and find the moment that the video went from "egg on edge" to "no egg at all". We had NO idea if she had pushed it all the way off or not. While scrolling, we saw so many times where she would bump it with her tail and we thought for sure that was the time she knocked it off for good!

Does the pair swap out time sitting on the eggs like pigeons?

We've been totally wondering that. We've been looking for either one leaving and a different one coming in, or hoping to notice different markings on the parents, but as far as we can tell, it's just the same bird (mom?) sitting on them 24/7.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

It's midnight right now and I decided to check on her:

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Well, check this out!!!

We thought we noticed some differences in the coloring, so after a TON of scrolling, we saw this:
(volume on, but timing of video / audio are a bit off):

Then we scrolled 24 hours earlier and saw this:

What's AMAZING to us:

1. The fact that the change-out / switch is pretty much exactly 24 hours earlier.
2. The process takes almost exactly the same time
3. The process is the same: The one on the nest hears the mate, then raiser their head, coos, then the mate flies up to the nest, switch out!

Nature is pretty awesome!

 

[Lumikko]

My girlfriend LOVES mourning doves... even though she calls them "dumb dumbs" because of her experiences with watching their feeble attempts at putting nests together (a handful of twigs lightly connected) and where they put those nests (on the end of flimsy branches where they fell down, or poor locations that are easily accessible to predators.

Still, she really enjoys watching them and listening to them.

Well, you can imagine her delight when she discovered that a pair of doves had made a nest on the outside beam of my house... conveniently right next to a light and outlet!

She climbed up on a latter and was so happy to discover 3 eggs in the nest! We quickly and gently setup a Wyze (I'm a huge fan) webcam to keep an eye on the situation.

Here are pics of the eggs and mom sitting on the nest:

View attachment 2070586

View attachment 2070588

Which Wyze cam model do you use?

 

[casportpony]

Well, check this out!!!

We thought we noticed some differences in the coloring, so after a TON of scrolling, we saw this:
(volume on, but timing of video / audio are a bit off):

Then we scrolled 24 hours earlier and saw this:

What's AMAZING to us:

1. The fact that the change-out / switch is pretty much exactly 24 hours earlier.
2. The process takes almost exactly the same time
3. The process is the same: The one on the nest hears the mate, then raiser their head, coos, then the mate flies up to the nest, switch out!

Nature is pretty awesome!

Fascinating, thanks for sharing!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Which Wyze cam model do you use?

It's just the basic $20 one. I do have a "pan cam" that I use in other locations, but the cheap / basic ones work for most things (I have about 5 now).