Awesome Reasons Why Mourning Doves are Fascinating

Mourning doves are fascinating birds. People identify them by their coo, a sound that is often described as sorrowful. Another inflection these birds use signals courtship, and a third warns other birds of danger.

Doves are also known for their distinctive whistling sound during takeoff, and tradition of being ground-foraging eaters. 

Want to hear a Mourning Dove coo? Click on this link on the Audubon Society site.

 
 
 
Mourning Doves are scientifically known as Zenaida macroura, and are found throughout North America. 

This species is a common year round resident here in Tucson, AZ, and typically breeds from March to September. When weather gets too cold  for Mourning Doves who live in colder climes, they migrate here. 

Mourning Doves co-parent their offspring, and the mother lays up to six broods each year, although fledglings' have high mortality rates. 

Each adult bird is medium size with slim body, thin neck, small head, and long, tapered tail that enables it to fly speeds up to 55 miles per hour.

 
 
Mourning Doves aren't dainty eaters. When they find a food source—preferably, a bunch of seeds on the ground—they’ll quickly grab as much as they can manage, storing their haul in a throat pouch called the crop. Then, they’ll fly off to a safe spot to work on digesting. 

On average, Mourning Doves will eat about 12 to 20 percent of their body weight every day. One champion eater was recorded racking up 17,200 bluegrass seeds in its crop at once.
 

These birds often build nests fast and flimsy, which I can attest to. We have had visiting Mourning Doves in our backyard throughout the years, and seen nests in what we think are unusual places. 

After a pair of doves picks a site, the males will bring back twigs and stems for the females to weave into a loose pile—often so loose that you can see the eggs through the bottom. 

We've noticed doves aren't picky about nest locations.  While doves often seek out trees or shrubs, they’re just as likely to start nest building in flower pots, cacti, or air conditioners. 

The Mourning Dove is one of North America’s most adaptable species, thriving in a wide range of habitats from coast to coast. 

Open areas like farmland, parks, and backyards are preferred over dense forest. However, they can tough it out in harsh habitats like the Southwest desert, where their ability to drink brackish, or slightly salty, water—up to around half the salinity of seawater—without getting dehydrated gives them an advantage. 

To learn more about why these bird are so special see Mourning Dove Fun Facts.

 

This year, to our amazement, a pair of them tried to build a nest inside one of our outdoor house lights. Two days running, a messy collection of twigs and sticks littered the ground below where the light is situated.

When I realized what was going on, my first thought was that the baby birds might roast from the heat of the automatic-timed light. 

To discourage nest building there, my husband put cardboard and tape over the opening. 

The next day, we were happy to see the parent birds, who were building a nest in a shrub on the side of the house. 

Then a week or two later we heard the chirping of baby birds and knew all was well.

 

Both baby Mourning Doves, or squabs survived, and they remained in the nest for about 12 to 15 days after hatching. 

The baby birds fledged, meaning left the nest, at this age. Each remained close by to their parents for another week or two, continuing to be fed by them.

Mourning Doves form seasonally monogamous couples that can raise as many as six broods of two eggs each a year. 

Want to attract mourning doves to your yard? 

Scatter seeds, particularly millet, on the ground or on platform feeders. Dense shrubs or evergreen trees make appealing nesting sites. Remember to keep your cats inside.

As mentioned above, Mourning Doves have many intriguing characteristics. They are ground feeders, primarily eating seeds, and are surprisingly fast fliers, capable of reaching speeds up to 55 mph. 

These brown or tan or gray and white colored feathered friends drink water in a unique way, sucking it up through their bills like a straw. 

We've spotted Mourning Doves that are primarily light brown to grayish tan too. They have a speckled back, a long pointed tail, and a black "ear" patch behind the eye. Their wings are blue-gray. 

Other Mourning Doves can be brown to buffy-tan colored with black spots on the wings and black-bordered white tips to the tail feathers.

Read more about colors at Unique Ways Colors are Key to Survival.

The species’ scientific name, Zenaida macroura, is also an ID hint: “macroura” comes from the Greek words for “long tail.” The Mourning Dove’s tail—slender, tapered, and with white-tipped outer feathers—offers a key clue to tell it apart from its cousins like the Eurasian Collared-Dove and White-winged Dove, whose tails end in square tips.

I am intrigued with the daily comings and goings of our backyard Mourning Doves, and find their cooing sound soothing, peaceful,  and familiar. I enjoy seeing them scurrying along the top of our property wall or flying back and forth on their daily rounds.

Have you spotted Mourning Doves where you live and do you like hearing them coo? Some people find it annoying and others like me find it pleasant. Which camp are you in and why?

What other kinds of birds live near you and which ones do you enjoy seeing? Please comment on that too.

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