Mourning Doves In My Palm Tree

Every year a pair of grey mourning doves go house hunting in the palm tree in my front yard looking for a place to build a nest. These birds are sometimes called Edwards’ doves after the British ornithologist and naturalist George Edwards who wrote about the history of uncommon birds. After these doves find a good place to build a nest, the male dove will collect twigs and other items and bring them to the female to make a nest. Both birds take turns incubating the eggs. Each nest has 2 eggs in it. Once the eggs hatch, both doves take turns caring for the baby doves called squabs. This year I was able to record the pair exploring the palm tree in front of my house and walking along the ground, probably looking for twigs and leaves to build their home.

Mourning doves are considered to be gentle birds whose presence is a sign of peace, love and faith. I’m thankful to see that the symbol of peace and love seems to rest at my house each year.

This video was shot on the iPhone 12 Pro Max and edited in iMovie on the iPhone. Music was created in GarageBand on iPhone. If you have any unique stories of birds building a nest in your trees, I would love to hear them. Just leave a comment below the movie.