How to Build Shelters for Mourning Doves

Mourning doves are also known as turtle doves and Carolina doves and are beautiful grayish blue birds with peaceful natures. Mourning doves are distinguished by a black spot on one cheek and long, narrow tails. Smaller than pigeons, they prefer wooded areas, tree groves and farmland across North America. In the wild, mourning doves make nests from loose sticks on horizontal tree branches, rocks, bushes and even directly on the ground. Attract a pair of mourning doves to your property by building a shelter for them that protects them from predators and lets you enjoy their beauty.

Things You'll Need

  • 3/4-inch wide pine wood board
  • Jigsaw or handsaw
  • Measuring tape
  • 150-grit sandpaper
  • Dry paintbrush
  • 15 wood screws
  • Power drill with Phillips-head bit attachment
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Instructions

    • 1

      Create an open platform for mourning doves and place it beneath an eve or awning to provide simple shelter for the birds and encourage them to make your yard their home. Measure and mark your pieces so that you have one 2-inch by 8-inch piece, two 3 1/2-inch by 7-inch pieces and one 6-inch by 8-inch piece.

    • 2

      Cut the four pieces of wood out of a 3/4-inch wide pine wood board with a jigsaw or handsaw. Bevel the corners of the 6-inch by 8-inch piece with 2-inch long, 45-degree angle cuts. Sand the edges of all pieces with 150-grit sandpaper. Wipe away sand ash with a dry paintbrush.

    • 3

      Measure 1 3/4 inches down from the top of the large piece and 7/16 inch in from the left side. Make a mark with a pencil at this point. Repeat for the right side of the large piece and make a mark on its face there. Draw a straight line to the middle of the face. Use a pencil compass to measure a 16-degree angle at that point.

    • 4

      Line up the two 3 1/2-inch by 7-inch pieces at these points and attach them to the face with eight wood screws at these marked points. Angle the boards down towards the middle of the face at the 16-degree angle. Use a power drill to attach four wood screws through the back of the face piece and into one short end of each 3 1/2-inch by 7-inch board.

    • 5

      Line up the top edge of the remaining 2-inch by 8-inch piece with the outer corners of the attached 3 1/2-inch by 7-inch boards. Use a power drill to thread two wood screws through the outer face of the 2-inch by 8-inch piece and into the other short end of each 3 1/2-inch by 7-inch board.

    • 6

      Select a spot for your dove shelter that's exposed to varying levels of sunlight, is beneath an eve, awning or porch and that faces an open area so that mourning doves will be attracted to it. Secure the mourning dove shelter that you just created to the side of your home with three wood screws. Thread two through the top of the rear, face and into the siding beneath your eve or awning with a power drill. Thread the one remaining wood screw through the middle bottom of the face.