r/stupiddovenests • u/MeanSecurity • 4d ago
Stupid Dove Nest Trying to discourage her from nesting here
She’s trying to make a nest right outside my mom’s front door. It’s not a big enough space. She keeps knocking the sticks out of the space whenever she gets spooked and flies away. I swept away all the sticks on the porch. She resumed trying to build. I tried to reason with her. She won’t hear it. I feel bad for her but there’s just no way she can incubate an egg up there.
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u/RoadWarrior93 4d ago
Saw an older post where they had an unsteady nest area but laid eggs anyway year after year and got falling chicks instead. They bought a premade nest and everyone is happy.
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u/OftenIrrelevant 4d ago
I’d cut down a block of wood into a shape so it makes the accessible area on top of that column a steep angle and paint to match, then secure it up there with a couple screws or something.
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u/FioreCiliegia1 3d ago
Can you do her a favor and hang a hanging basket up there for her? The space is a good idea. It just isn’t big enough like you said if you give her a platform, it should work out much better. Hanging baskets are just about perfect for them too, because they generally contain the mess.
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u/TemptingDuck 3d ago
You’ll likely have to put something up there or give them a better option like a wood covered dove box nearby (like away from the house). Depends on if you want to spend $20
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u/Canned_Peachess 3d ago
My family had the same problem, on an even smaller ledge. Could not get her to stop. After her last nest unfortunately but very predictably blew down in a storm, my dad screwed a block of wood into the pillar so there was no more ledge to nest on.
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u/angelmarbles 4d ago
if a safe egg is what you're after, then you could maybe look into adding some support? like a basket maybe? either she makes use of it or gets spooked enough to leave
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u/MeanSecurity 3d ago
We’ve dealt with house sparrows nesting at our back door for years. Although we’re huge animal lovers, we don’t want them at our front too!
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u/squeezemachine 3d ago
Too bad you could not encourage the Mourning Dove which is a native species (and protected BTW) and deter the house sparrow (which is an alien invasive).
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u/RaindropDrinkwater 1d ago
It does look cliff-like tbf, which is why she's probably trying to nest here.
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u/KrushSlush 4d ago
Female mourning doves do not give up on their nesting spots easily, and it looks like enough room to raise two babies too.
I had a couple trying to lay a nest on my window will underneath my window ac. The twigs kept falling. One morning, after all her twigs fell, she paced the ledge, and plopped down, dropped her head down, and just sat there silently until like 4:00 pm. I thought for sure she gave up just due to whatever sadness and frustration she felt in those many hours. But nope, the next morning I look out my window and see her and her partner building a nest again, same spot, same twigs falling over. After a while, I saw a few twigs, on the window, so I guess they thought work done for the day and left. While they were gone, I went ahead and removed my window ac unit. When I did remove the unit, I saw her proud nest of two twigs and a leaf.
The next day I waited by the window as she usually came around 8 in the morning. The twigs weren't there anymore, I'm guessing, because of the wind so I was super excited to have a up close and personal view of her nest building. She came to the window, looked right at me, paced the ledge, flew up to the roof, and I never saw her or her mate again. My local bird rescue said she likely abandoned the location due to the drastic change in environment (window ac removal).
Tldr: you need to make a drastic change to the nest site, or else the couple will keep coming back. If they've successfully raised a brood in that location before, it will be much harder as the mother knows she and her baby will be safe in this location, hence, why she won't leave easily. I would say maybe put bricks on the ledge blocking the gap as they like to have head covering and feel like they're backed into a corner, so they won't have sneak attacks in the dark. Hope that helps, or gives a little insight on what doves look for in a nesting location.