How are they so overpopulated if they can’t even lay eggs in a reasonably safe place? *head desk*

I wouldn’t call the doves stupid, these things just happen. I was born in an elevator. It wasn’t b/c my mom thought having me there was a good idea, it’s just that the hospital didn’t take her seriously enough when she said there wasn’t time to make it all the way up to the delivery ward. When the egg is ready to come out, there is only so long a bird can hold it in for.

Aww, too bad for the doves! You’re probably right that they’re inexperienced parents and didn’t realize they needed a nest before the eggs came.

When I lived in California, my favorite birdsong was the call of the mourning dove. I’m sad to see that some of them are losing the ability to parent properly. I remember that between hearing these lovely birds calling to one another and then also hearing the little quips and chirps of the quail, these sounds always were accompanied by the growing warmth of the spring and summer.
We’d leave seed for the birds in our front yard. We had a line of juniper bushes growing there and you’d see first the mom and dad quail come out and scout around…then a whole line of little baby peeps come scurrying out of the bushes and pecking at the seed. I could watch them for hours.
I would get irritated at the blue jays though. Always picking on the smaller birds and driving them away from the food. What scoundrels! I admit to chasing off more than a few of these so the less bold birds could eat.

I was stunned to find that mourning doves are often advertised here as pets! I really couldn’t imagine having one (my three cats aside) since I always saw it as a wild bird.

We had tons in Ontario. I can’t recall a speific story to share, but I recall that they were very dumb birds.
Us too though-we thought there were tons of owls around until we put the bird feeders out and saw who was actually making that noise.