Flower Box Bird Nest - Mourning Dove - Feeding Time

Mourning dove chicks, also called squabs, are fed "pigeon milk" by both parents several times a day for about three days after hatching. The parents regurgitate the milk into the chicks' mouths, with one chick sitting on each side of the adult. After three days, seeds gradually replace the milk. The mother dove digests the seeds before feeding them to her young.
Baby mourning doves are helpless and covered in ivory-colored down when they hatch, but they grow significantly by two weeks old and have fluffy feathers. They make a soft, whistling sound when they are hungry, and the parents listen for that sound.
Young doves leave the nest when they are about 12 to 15 days old, but they often stay in the nest tree for several more days and wait nearby to be fed for the next 1 to 2 weeks.