Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Description: Mourning Doves have a gray-brown body and a gray head. Their tail is long with a white edge that is easily seen during flight. The Mourning Doves have a single black spot below their eyes and often have black dots on their wings. They are medium-sized, tending to be about 12 inches long. Males are slightly larger than females.
Habitat: Mourning Doves can be easily found throughout all of North America. They prefer anywhere with scattered trees and shrubs and are not usually found in deep forests. They are often spotted in fields or patches of open land, but can also be seen on overhead perches such as telephone wires. Their nests consist of twigs, grass, and pine needles and are thin and fragile.
Diet: Mourning Doves feed in pairs or flocks. In the wild, they eat corn, canary grass, pine nuts, amaranth, and pokeberry seeds. At bird feeders, they eat sunflower, saf flower, and millet seeds. They eat 12 to 20 percent of their body weight per day, averaging about 71 calories daily.
Behaviors:
Miscellaneous:
Habitat: Mourning Doves can be easily found throughout all of North America. They prefer anywhere with scattered trees and shrubs and are not usually found in deep forests. They are often spotted in fields or patches of open land, but can also be seen on overhead perches such as telephone wires. Their nests consist of twigs, grass, and pine needles and are thin and fragile.
Diet: Mourning Doves feed in pairs or flocks. In the wild, they eat corn, canary grass, pine nuts, amaranth, and pokeberry seeds. At bird feeders, they eat sunflower, saf flower, and millet seeds. They eat 12 to 20 percent of their body weight per day, averaging about 71 calories daily.
Behaviors:
- Mourning Doves use their powerful wings to fly quickly, making sudden ascents, descents, and dodges. As they fly, their pointed tails stretch far behind them.
- The birds feed on exposed ground, but do not scratch at the ground
- Male and female pairs preen each other and eventually grasp beaks and bob their heads in unison as part of a pair-bonding ritual
- Male Mourning Doves tend to have preferred cooling perches, which they defend from other males
- If they feel threatened by predators, both the male and female birds will abandon their nest, leaving behind eggs and nestlings
Miscellaneous:
- Mourning Doves often reuse the same nest for five sets of eggs in a single season.
- Mourning Doves feed their nestlings crop milk, a regurgitated source of protein and fat, for three days.
- The oldest Mourning dove lived to be 31 years old.
- Mourning Doves are named after their sad call sound.