Nest

Last night we were working in the yard as a family when one of the children spotted something hidden in a clump of weeds…


A bird’s nest, about 8 inches in diameter, on the ground.


The five eggs were lightly speckled.  One guess is quail, but all the pictures I’ve seen of quail eggs are more mottled than these eggs were.  I haven’t noticed any quail in the yard this year, either, although I often see them running across the road about 2 blocks away.   We wondered if it could be a dove’s nest, since they sometimes nest on the ground and are unafraid of nesting around humans.  We’ve seen a lot of doves this year and can hear them all the time.  I’ve never seen dove eggs, though, and all the online pictures I’ve researched show dove eggs to be white in color with no speckles.


So, if you know what kind of eggs these are, please share!  (DAD?)  Lately I have this insatiable interest in birds.  I’m seriously considering purchasing a pair of binoculars for bird watching.

As we all gathered and peered at the eggs, showing them to the children and taking pictures, there were no agitated birds trying to warn us off.  (This was not so for my 11 year old daughter who thought that climbing into a tree to watch a mother bird and her babies would be a lot of fun until they all started chirping at her. The birds were so agitated that it frightened her and she panicked, forgetting how to climb out of  the tree.  She had to be rescued with a ladder!)

We’re starting a landscaping project, so the nest had to be moved or it would be destroyed.  We carefully relocated it with a shovel and are hoping that the eggs aren’t abandoned!


As with the children’s book I shared last week, I love this piece of land we live on.  As we all stood gathered last night, marveling at more of God’s handiwork, I thought, “Where else does a nest filled with eggs make all the difference in the world?”
Isn’t it a wonderful thing to experience things as a family?

Hopeful Homemaker

8 comments

  • Melissa

    Was just Googling dove eggs trying to figure out what type I have in one of my planters. They look EXACTLY like yours! We thought quail too, but I haven’t seen any around. Did you ever figure it out?
    Also, now that I’ve discovered it…I haven’t seen a dove visit the nest since. I’m worried they might have abandoned it. 🙁

  • Steve wasche

    I also have the same nest next to my spa in the back – with as many spotted eggs – what is it?

  • Joe Wermuth

    I had two nest about 2ft apart .for one week we had one nest w / 6 eggs no adult .over next three days noticed eggs moved one was open the rest were cold but the eggs were moved to the other nest making ovet 10eggs in nest. Been 2 weeksbird still on nest.

  • pat

    they look like mocking bird eggs,I have them in my back yard

  • Arlene L Renninger

    Hi, Jennifer:

    Did you ever identify the five speckled eggs? Today, I stopped alongside the road, surrounded by farmland, as a vulture was eating eggs, lying in close proximity on the ground, similar to your photo.

    IMG_9025.JPG

    There was a pair of mourning doves perched above the site on a telephone wire. There were ten untouched eggs, and as many already broken and contents eaten by the vulture. I was puzzled as to how many eggs were in this one site. I read that mourning doves only hatch two at one time. Take care, Arlene

  • jennifer

    Arlene,
    We’re not completely sure, but our conclusion was that they were quail eggs, especially since the nest was on the ground.

  • erin

    they are quail eggs. quails lay their eggs on the ground so that when the babies hatch they can leave. baby quails do not need to stay in a nest, they will follow the parents and eat on the way. they can be found on the ground and in planters. I find them in my pots all the time. once they hatch, they are on the run.

  • Phil

    I have 3 eggs like these thought dove but like you there spotted lightly, I’ve seen quail,and doves hanging around, back yard,these are in front yard under a hose box on the ground, saw when I moved the box to use hose

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