# Found a Mourning Dove



## sandy311 (Sep 27, 2010)

I have a little mourning dove that has been hanging around my bird feeder. He lets you get very close to him before he'll attempt to fly away. When he finally takes off he flies very clumsily for a few feet, then lands usually hard. He invariably ends up back under the feeder. I'm worried that there is something wrong with him, since he flies so poorly. The worst thing is that I'm moving in about a week and the feeder has to come down. I don't know if he'll be able to find food with how he flies. I'm in Des Moines, IA. What should I do? I realize that he's wild, but I feel responsible since he is one of my "outside pets". Any help would be great.


----------



## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Hi. Can you catch him ? if so, catch him and post a pic. Mourning doves fledge very quickly, but they are still very frail for several weeks (even robust adults are relatively frail for a wild bird).

Could be ill, could be injured, or could just be having a hard time getting the hang of it all. Either way, you may be able to help

For housing him/her...do NOT use a cage with bars. Mourning Doves are incredibly skittish....they do NOt like being handled and they do not like being caged. They will often flail about inside an enclosure, so you don't want one where they can get their head/wing/foot stuck.

Use a box with a screen lid on top...or maybe a small fish aquarium tank so she can see out.

Let us know what transpires and write back. Thanks for caring !!!


----------



## sandy311 (Sep 27, 2010)

I got closer today to the dove, now called Dover. I snapped a few pictures. I noticed that he has a hurt eye. You can see it in the picture. He can open it a little bit, and its running. He is still eating well, and he appears to be flying a bit better. If I'm on the same side as his hurt eye I can sneak up on him. Three times I was within inches of catching him. Then he'd turn his head and see me with his good eye and fly away. He'd be dead if I was a cat! I also noticed that he doesn't have the pointy tail like the other mourning doves. His wings also do not make that whistling sound when he takes off. Here's some pictures. 
Part of me is saying to let nature takes its course, he is wild after all. But then, I also want to help him! Poor thing.


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Please try to catch this dove and get it to a wildlife rehabber or center in your area. Obviously, there is something wrong with the eye and sounds like something else going on as well if the bird is not flying well. If left to fend for itself, it will get picked off by a predator in fairly short order.

Thank you for being so observant and for caring about this Mourning Dove.!

Terry


----------



## sandy311 (Sep 27, 2010)

Update on Dover the mourning dove. I haven't seen him in three days.  However, I haven't seen ANY mourning doves in three days. Do they migrate? I know that the odds were against him, but maybe he made it. I tried to catch him, but he did not want to be caught! Thanks everyone for your help. Send good thoughts Dover's way, just in case!


----------

