Community Lens for July 7

Tracy Gilchrist Bortle of Sandy Springs took a photo of these mourning doves that hatched in her window box. “I so enjoyed watching Mama lay the eggs and then watching them hatch,” she wrote. “They just fledged but have been back to visit several times a day.” The hatched young, called squabs, are strongly altricial, being helpless at hatching and covered with down. Both parents feed the squabs pigeon’s milk (dove’s milk) for the first three to four days of life. Thereafter, the crop milk is gradually augmented by seeds. Fledging takes place in about 11–15 days, before the squabs are fully grown but after they are capable of digesting adult food. They stay nearby to be fed by their father for up to two weeks after fledging. Mourning doves are prolific breeders. In warmer areas, these birds may raise up to six broods in a season. This fast breeding is essential because mortality is high. Most birds live about a year.