Quick Answer: The best mourning dove nesting box in 2026 is the Coveside Conservation Open Nest Box — a pine open-front platform with a low lip and sloped roof, priced around $55-$60. The Hargis Habitats Cedar Dove Nesting Box is a dove-specific cedar alternative around $35-$45, and the DoubleFill Cedar Roosting Platform is the budget pick at roughly $30-$40. The catch: mourning doves are not cavity nesters, so a standard enclosed birdhouse with four walls and a roof simply won’t get used — you need an open platform or shelf, mounted 7-15 feet up in a shaded, sheltered spot.
Mourning doves are, by a wide margin, one of the most common birds in North America — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put the U.S. population at roughly 346 million in its most recent survey, and it’s also the most hunted game bird in the country. Yet most people who search “mourning dove nesting box” end up buying a standard enclosed birdhouse and wonder why nothing moves in. According to Cornell’s NestWatch program, doves build loose, flimsy twig platforms on open, flat surfaces — the same open-nest style favored by robins and phoebes, not the enclosed-cavity design that works for bluebirds or wrens. Here are the platforms actually built to that open-front spec.
Mourning dove nesting boxes by the numbers
- 346 million U.S. mourning doves. USFWS’s 2023 population survey (Eastern management unit 88.5M, Central 201.9M, Western 55.1M) — one of the continent’s most abundant birds, and the most heavily hunted migratory game bird, with about 16.76 million harvested nationally in 2023 per the agency’s Harvest Information Program.
- An 8x8-inch open floor. NestWatch’s baseline platform size — no walls, no roof required, just a flat surface with a low 1-2 inch lip on three sides to keep the loose twig nest from blowing off.
- 7-15 feet mounting height. NestWatch’s recommended range for a shed wall, under eaves, or a sheltered tree crotch — shaded, not in full open sun.
- Twigs, not straw. Doves build their own minimal nest from small sticks; NestWatch suggests leaving a twig pile nearby rather than pre-filling the platform with nesting material.
Our top picks at a glance
| Platform | Best for | Material | Design | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coveside Conservation Open Nest Box | Best overall | Pine | Open-front platform, sloped roof over the back | around $55-$60 |
| Hargis Habitats Cedar Dove Nesting Box | Best dove-specific design | Cedar | Open platform, handcrafted | around $35-$45 |
| DoubleFill Cedar Roosting Platform | Best budget | Cedar | Flat roosting/nesting platform | around $30-$40 |
1. Coveside Conservation Open Nest Box — Best Overall
Coveside Conservation Open Nest Box
- Open-front platform design with a roughly 2-inch front lip and a sloped roof over the back half — shelters the nest from rain without boxing in the front the way a standard birdhouse would.
- Sized close to NestWatch's 8x8-inch floor recommendation, small enough to tuck under eaves or on a shed wall bracket.
- Solid pine construction from an established nest-box maker (also behind our barred owl and screech owl picks), built to hold up outdoors for years.
- Doubles for robins and phoebes, so it's a reasonable pick even if you're not sure which open-nesting species will find it first.
Setting one up before spring? Try Amazon Prime free for 30 days to get mounting brackets or a wall shelf bracket delivered fast — useful if you’re installing under eaves or on a shed wall and don’t already have the hardware on hand.
The design decision that matters most here is the open front — Coveside didn’t just shrink one of its enclosed boxes, it built a platform with a lip and partial roof specifically because doves, robins, and phoebes reject anything that looks like a cavity. That’s the difference between a nesting box that sits empty for years and one that actually gets used the first season.
2. Hargis Habitats Cedar Dove Nesting Box — Best Dove-Specific Design
Hargis Habitats Cedar Dove Nesting Box
- Handcrafted cedar platform marketed specifically for mourning doves, with the same open, low-walled design NestWatch recommends.
- Cedar naturally resists rot and insects better than untreated pine, a small edge for a platform that's going to sit outside year-round.
- Compact enough to mount on a fence post, shed wall, or sheltered tree crotch without needing a dedicated pole system.
- Also sold in 2-packs by some retailers if you're covering more than one spot on the property.
Being marketed specifically for doves is worth something here — it’s a smaller cottage-maker product than Coveside’s broader open-nest-box line, but the cedar build and correct open-platform shape mean it’s purpose-built rather than repurposed from a robin shelf. Cedar’s rot resistance also means less annual maintenance than an unfinished pine platform exposed to weather in the same spot every year.
3. DoubleFill Cedar Roosting Platform — Best Budget
DoubleFill Cedar Roosting Platform
- Flat cedar platform, roughly 14"x10.5"x5.25" — larger surface area than the NestWatch 8x8-inch minimum, giving a nesting pair extra room.
- Simple open design with no interior walls to block access, matching the open-nest spec doves actually use.
- Lightweight enough to mount with basic screws or brackets on a fence, wall, or sturdy branch.
- The lowest-cost way to test whether a given spot on the property gets used before investing in a premium platform.
The extra floor space here is a genuine advantage over the strict 8x8-inch minimum — mourning doves build a loose, sometimes precarious nest, and a bit of surplus platform area reduces the odds it slides off in wind. At this price point it’s a reasonable way to try two or three placements around a property before committing to a pricier option.
How to choose a mourning dove nesting box
- Confirm it’s open-front, not enclosed. This is the single most important spec — an enclosed box with four walls and a roof will not attract doves no matter how well it’s built or placed.
- 8x8 inches of floor is the baseline. A low 1-2 inch lip on three sides keeps the nest from sliding, but the front needs to stay fully open.
- Mount 7-15 feet up, shaded. A shed wall, under eaves, or a sheltered tree crotch — not a spot that sits in full sun most of the day.
- Don’t pre-fill it with nesting material. Doves build their own minimal twig nest; leave a small twig pile nearby instead and let them collect it.
- Cedar or treated pine over untreated wood. Either resists weather better for a platform that’s going to sit outdoors through multiple seasons.
- Check placement after a few weeks. If nothing has moved in by late spring, try relocating to a different wall or tree — proximity to human activity and full sun exposure are the two most common reasons an otherwise correct platform goes unused.
Mourning doves share the open-nesting preference with several other backyard species covered on this site — see our best bird feeder for robins guide for the feeding side of that same open-platform approach, or our best bird house roundup if you’re not sure yet whether an enclosed cavity nester or an open-platform species like doves is more likely on your property. If you’re feeding doves at the ground rather than housing them, our best bird feeder for doves guide covers the feeder side separately.
The bottom line
The Coveside Conservation Open Nest Box is the best mourning dove nesting box for most people — a correctly designed open-front pine platform from a maker with a long nest-box track record, priced around $55-$60. The Hargis Habitats Cedar Dove Nesting Box is the closer dove-specific alternative if you want cedar’s weather resistance, and the DoubleFill Cedar Roosting Platform is the budget way to test a placement before committing further. Whatever you buy, the open-front design is non-negotiable — an enclosed birdhouse, no matter how nice, simply won’t attract a bird that’s built for open ledges and tree crotches for millions of years.