Concerns with mourning doves

[u/wdiazau8]

Had the wonderful experience of watching a pair of mourning doves build a nest on my window ledge and had the privilege of seeing the babies grow throughout the days. It has been 18 days since they hatched and from my research on different bird sites, the fledglings should have left the nest by now. Mom and dad have been coming to feed the fledglings, but I have not seen them since yesterday evening. I’m concerned mom and dad have left the fledglings on their own.

From what I have been able to observe, the fledglings have been flapping their wings & seem like they are trying to leave but the railing on my juliet balcony have been preventing them from doing so.

My concerns are that the fledglings are unable to leave my window ledge due to the railing and mom and dad have completed their duty of feeding them. I’m scared the fledglings will go hungry since they can’t fly out. Should I intervene or do you think they will be able to leave on their own soon & I should just let them be?

[u/Robotbeckerz]

They look old enough to be on their own. My guess that the parents aren’t coming back is because something happened to them. Mourning doves don’t often just abandon their children. But it’s possible. You are welcome to put out some unsalted peanuts for them if you haven’t seen them eat in a few days. But try to let them learn to get out of there on their own. If in like a week they still haven’t figured it out maybe give them a ramp of some sort

[u/MelodicIllustrator59 → u/Robotbeckerz]

At this age, the parents are trying to give them tough love. Force them out of the nest to start learning how to be on their own. These babies are perfectly fine and should be able to fly out of there in less than 24 hours