How long does it take for a baby dove to fly?

Baby doves leave the nest at 11 or 12 days old, but they are not able to fly back up into the nest or anywhere else until three or four days later. Baby doves are between 14 and 16 days old when they are able to fly.

This is a normal stage in dove development. The young doves on the ground are called fledglings, and the parents continue to feed them. If a baby dove does not leave the nest by the time it is 12 days old, the parents do not feed it until it leaves. Well-meaning people may assume that a fledgling dove on the ground is injured or not being fed by its parents and is in need of rescue, but this is often not so.