collared dove lost its mate, what will happen ?

[doggyplop]

hi all,

bit of a quandry here, a pair of collared doves (or some other all grey dove) have been visiting my garden for at least 4 years, its their patch, but recently the female (i think) was found dead.
i buried her before the male saw her.

the male (i think) is now cooing his bottom off during the day, and is quite noisy, he will coo loudly on the roof then move off to somewhere nearbye and coo there.

he obviously is calling for his mate.

should i put the dead female on the lawn so the male can see she is dead, or should i let him search and coo for her ?

will he pine to death if he can not find her ?

will he pine to death if i allow him to see the dead body ?

(some birds will attend dead brethren and get worked up trying to revive the dead, some birds deffo go into mourning and can suffer physically)

whats the best course of action ?, will he be better off knowing she is dead, or will he hang around cooing for her forever, and thus maybe suffer (not to mention the noise he makes !, its quite loud)

i googled this, and some sites say he will eventually get another mate after a period of mourning, but other sites say he will never get another mate again (they are monogamous birds) and could pine away untill ill health.

so ive come here to get some good advice.

time is of the essence, cos if its better to show him the dead body, i will need to dig it up (she died 2 days ago)

cheers

[Kayleigh]

I think he will eventually get a new mate I wouldn't dig her up..
Is she buried deep as the local fox might dig her up..

[Farplace]

He most probably knows she is dead already. No need to dig her up. Let him greive. He will eventually find a new mate.

[doggyplop]

cheers

no foxes around here, its a part council estate and an urban fox would have to make its home amongst discarded tyres and fridges in local gardens and dodge youths with airguns.

i wonder how long he will grieve and move on ?, his mate vanished a few months ago, and he kept a vigil on my shed for weeks on end, and she eventually came back (im pretty sure it was his old mate cos they did the same routine, in the same bird bath, together,

so he may be expecting the same thing now, a long absence but she will eventually turn up, but this time she wont come back.

but basically then, he wont pine away into ill health ?

[aeshna5]

His constant cooing may be to attract a new mate, after all the main functions of bird song is to attract a mate + keep competitors out.

[sunnydale]

He'll find someone new quick enough. You know what men are like!

[faz]

Originally Posted by sunnydale

He'll find someone new quick enough. You know what men are like!

ouch

[Wild-Woman]

If it's any comfort, we have a regular pair of collared doves and I can tell them apart from other doves as one (the male) has a drooping wing that I think at some point was broken and has healed awkwardly. He lost his female counterpart last spring when she decided to see if she could fly through glass- ie our patio doors! He looked a bit lost for a month, but in the early summer, he got another lady and they raised a brood of 3 successfully. So don't worry too much, I'm sure your dove will hook up with another one soon, especially as he is shouting loud enough!

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by sunnydale

He'll find someone new quick enough. You know what men are like!

How true....

I had a pair of collared doves for a couple of years then one day Mrs Spawk came calling and took one of them..
It was so sad watching the one left feeding and going about its business all alone when they were so close, then a few months later it found another mate they do get over this and move on and with spring here it will happen sooner rather than later I think..