Collard Doves nest has been emptied?

[Ben G]

Hello, just signed up to find a little bit out on the collard Doves nesting habits.

Basically we've had this pair of Doves coming to our garden for the last year, and about 3 weeks ago we noticed they had been making a nest in the tree right outside our house.

We've been watching them for the last couple weeks sitting on the nest in turn, cooing away which brought alot of happiness to us, maining my mum.

Now this morning i heard them cooing away and then flying off, when we looked outside we've found an empty nest & 2 broken shells on the floor

Mum said she saw a regular pigeon in the tree this morning and assumes that it has attacked the nest? The shells are perfectly clean (no yolk/ slime) so i assume the chicks have hatched (after checking various sites it seems they hatch in 2 weeks), but would the pigeon attack the chicks? Do they take over other birds nests?

There's no way a cat would get to them, as the braches are too flimsy to hold a cat, plus the nest is right on the edge.


I assume the Doves won't return to this nest, is there a way to encourage them back to the garden in general though?


I already know the answers in my heart, but just want to check with experts in this so that i can avoid telling mum the truth, she hasn't been that well and the Doves really have cheerd her up.

Many thanks in advance for any info

Ben

[mrs fish]

It could of been a number of predators that had the chicks, I'm sure the local Magpies, Crows and Jays know where most of the nests are so they get raided often.

The doves will most likely nest again very soon

[Tursiops2]

Hi Ben G, welcome to WAB
I agree with mrs f., your local Wood or Feral pigeons will have no interest in the nest of a Collared dove, it's most likely one of the crow family or possibly a squirrel. It happens a lot, but Collared doves nest almost all year round so they will probably stay in the vicinity and attempt another brood, hopefully in a more secure spot.
T2

[Ben G]

Thanks for the replies

By the sounds of it then i guess it could be a Magpie, as we get alot of them around here, you can hear them 'cackle' all the time'

We saw one of the doves on the neighbours roof earlier, so they may well be back, we'll put out some corn for them.


Poor little things, i know it's life & nature, but it is a shame, we thought they might be a bit safer being right outside our back door!

regards,

Ben

[Jason Green]

Sorry to hear about your mum not being well and the unsuccessful nest, but as has been said they nest frequently and I'm sure they'll try again. Afterall, they've been around for a year already!

For an 'alien' species, they are such beautiful birds!

[witham]

We have Collared Doves and Pigeons who live quite happily near each other in our trees so definitely not a Pigeon attack, could be Jackdaws, Crows, Magpies, Grey Squirrels or Woodpeckers, all will take baby birds but as their nests are usually so precarious the young can be washed or blown out in bad weather if the parents have left the nest for any length of time. also the young mature so quickly on a diet of crop milk they soon fledge and when they do it's often difficult to tell them apart from their parents, considering the first pair recorded in Britain was in 1955 in Norfolk they haven't done too bad