Editorial photo #13149451 Human Interest
Spotted Dove (Spilopelia Chinensis) - Egg To Development At 4 Days Old
Spotted dove or eastern spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) chicks hatch from one or two glossy white eggs after about 13-16 days of incubation by both parents on a nest made of twigs, grasses, and roots. They emerge as helpless, downy nestlings and are blind, fed "crop milk" by their parents until they fledge around two weeks later. They stay near their parents for another week or two for feeding. At four days old, they are still very young and entirely dependent on their parents for warmth and food. They are small and fragile, with eyes likely still closed or just beginning to open. They do not yet have their distinctive spotted neck pattern or adult feathers; those develop as they mature. Here, a Spotted dove haphazardly builds a nest and lays eggs, hatching its young next to a broom made of coconut fronds by a house in Tehatta, West Bengal, India, on December 6, 2025. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto)
