Engineers of the Animal World

You know, when I think about engineering feats in the animal world (not including humans, that is :-), I think about the beaver and its dams, the honeybee and its combs, and the weaverbird and its nests. Actually, most bird nests are quite the engineering feat. A number of years ago, a pair of bushtits built a nest under a hanging plant in my backyard. I didn't get a photo, but here's an example. I've posted photos of hummingbird nests. They all manage to gather just the right building materials to meet their need and then weave and shape them into a safe place to lay eggs and hatch and rear young to fledgling stage. 

What I don't think of are Mourning Dove nests. Good lord! These guys are the slackin-est engineering students ever. In my yard, they usually slack out and throw a few sticks into a hanging pot and call it a nest. I've seen Mourning Doves cross three sticks at a horizontal fork in a tree and try to lay eggs. The slightest breeze comes up and the eggs come down. It's a wonder they succeed as a species!

But this afternoon I spent an amusing couple of hours watching a pair of Mourning Doves set up housekeeping. 

The back end of my deck has slats and supports a Wisteria vine. As you can see, there's a wad o' twigs bridging a pair of slats near a rafter supporting them. That is the "nest" that is in progress.

I spent a couple of hours watching as Mrs. Dove sat on the so-called nest while Mr. Dove went furniture shopping. Watching him pick out furniture was fairly amusing. He'd flap down to the ground and pick up and throw down stick after stick. Then he'd find a likely candidate that he'd pick up and throw down a number of times, picking it up at a different point along the stick each time. Then, when he had just the right stick, he'd fly up to the fence, over to the end of *a* rafter (tho' not *the* rafter), back to the fence (but to a different spot), over to a nearby tree, then *finally* to the nest with the new settee.

Remember, Mrs. Dove is sitting on the nest. SO, what does Mr. Dove do? "Oh, honey. Don't you lift a little finger. I'll take care of it." He jumps up on her back (no, not to do the do) and tucks the settee in next to her. Then leaves. (Say, what?!?!) 

I'm thinking, this is pretty wacky. Maybe it's a one-time work-around. But no-o-o-o-o! He does it like ten more times. Once, while he was out shopping, she stood up, turned around, and settled back down. When he got back with the new armoire, he jumped right up on her back, placed the armoire, and left. 

By the way, the furniture shopping process is fairly competitive. Mr. Dove threatened to kick another dove's ass for shopping in the same warehouse store. I mean, we're talking a good ten feet away and Mr. Dove takes offense at the intrusion and starts posturing, charging, and generally taking chase till the other guy finally left the vicinity (i.e., my yard).

If anything comes of this nest, I'll do more posts following the progress, but this is not the first nest doves have started at the back of my deck this year. They may abandon it as being too close to frequent traffic... or neighborhood cats.

Have you ever listened to a Mourning Dove taking off? They sound like the Three Stooges: whoop, whoop, whoop!