Mourning Dove

The Mourning Dove is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. As one of the most common North American birds, it is famous for its easily recognizable silhouette, the mourning sound of its call, as well as its symbolism of peace, grief, loved ones, friendship, companionship, and other themes. Although its biggest threat is predation by cats, the population is currently stable or experiencing a slight decline, though it remains very large.

Where To Find Mourning Doves

Mourning doves are native to North America, with a large range of almost 11,000,000 km2 (4,200,000 sq mi). They live in southern Canada, the southwestern US, the Greater Antilles, the Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda, south-central Mexico, and Panama. They were introduced to Hawaii in 1963. The birds live in open and semi-open habitats, including urban and suburban neighborhoods, prairie, grassland, farms, and light woods. You can find them in open country, along roadsides, and perched on telephone poles.

Nests

Mourning doves are highly adaptable and can make their nest almost anywhere. Although their first choice is dense deciduous and coniferous trees, they also make their nests in shrubs, vines, buildings, hanging flower pots, and, as a last resort, the ground. They begin nest building in March, with the peak of their breeding season being April-July. Females, with the help of males, build the loose nests out of twigs, conifer needles, and grass blades, or they use the unused nests of other mourning doves, other birds, or tree-dwelling animals such as squirrels.

Scientific Name

There are 6 other species in the genus Zenaida. The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) has 5 subspecies, with Z. m. macroura being the nominate subspecies. Their ranges slightly overlap, and their appearances differ slightly. The genus name Zenaida is an homage to Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte, wife of the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte and niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, while the species name macroura is from the ancient Greek word makros, meaning “long” and -ouros meaning “-tailed.”

The mourning dove is closely related to the eared dove (Zenaida auriculata) and the Socorro dove (Zenaida graysoni), and the pigeon genus Patagioenas. It is more distantly related to the wild or passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), which was hunted to extinction in the early 1900s. Finally, it is similar looking to the European and North African species (Streptopelia turtur), which is also called “turtle dove” but due to its specific name “turtur”, which is a Latinisation of their purring turr turr turr song.

Types

Scientists have identified five subspecies of the bird, including:

• Zenaida macroura carolinensis: It can be found in the Bahamas, Bermuda, eastern Canada, and the eastern United States.
• Zenaida macroura clarionensis: Located on Clarion Island, close to western Mexico.
• Zenaida macroura macroura: Lives in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.
• Zenaida macroura marginella: Found in western Canada, Mexico (southcentral), and the western United States.
• Zenaida macroura turturilla: Located in Costa Rica and western Panama.

Evolution and Classification

Mourning doves belong to the Zenaida genus, which itself consists of six other species:

• Eared doves
• Galápagos doves
• Socorro doves
• West Peruvian doves
• White-winged doves
• Zenaida doves

These birds, which are native to the Americas, belong to the larger family Columbidae. This larger group itself consists of 50 genera and 344 species. Its members are generally referred to as doves or pigeons, depending on their size — the former are usually smaller, while the latter are usually bigger. These birds share the distinction of being capable of producing crop milk irrespective of their gender and their preference for a grain-based diet.

Their history goes all the way back to the Cretaceous Period between 66 and 145 million years ago. The group experienced rapid diversification during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, during which about 75% of the Earth’s plant and animal life became extinct — an event which is believed to have occurred approximately 66 million years ago.

Appearance

The mourning dove is a medium-sized, slender, and graceful bird with a length of 22.5 to 36 cm (8.9 to 14.2in), with an average of 30.5cm (12in) and a weight of 96 to 170 g (3.4 to 6.0 oz), with an average of 128 g (4.5 oz). Its wingspan is 37 to 45cm (14.6 to 17.7in). Its plumage is light grey-brown with pinkish grey-brown below, with black spotting on the wide, elliptical wings. The long, tapered tail has white outer tail feathers and black inner tail feathers. It has short, reddish-colored legs, a round head, and a short, dark brown-black beak. The dark eyes are surrounded by light skin, and underneath is a crescent-shaped area of dark feathers.

Adult males have bright or iridescent purple-pink patches on the sides of the neck, with light pink coloring down to the breast and a bluish-grey crown. Females have more brown in general and are slightly smaller than males. Females also barely have bright feather patches. Juvenile birds look scaly and are darker until they reach 3 months of age, at which point they are indistinguishable in plumage from adults. The 5 subspecies of mourning dove look similar to each other, with slight differences in coloring, beak, and leg length.

Migration pattern and timing

Mourning doves live year-round in the US. They spend summers in southern Canada and migrate to the southern United States and northern Mexico for winter.

Behavior

The mourning dove’s call is a soft, drawn-out, mournful cooOOoo-woo-woo-woooo sound, which is easily and often mistaken for that of an owl. It is the male who utters it as a wooing call. Pair members preen each other by gently nibbling around the neck as a pair-bonding ritual, progressing to grasping beaks and bobbing their heads up and down in unison.

Mourning doves can be seen panting when hot, as they are unable to sweat, and so must drink large amounts of water, which they drink by suction. They sunbathe or enjoy a shower from the rain for up to twenty minutes by lying on the ground or on a flat tree limb, leaning over, and stretching one wing while maintaining the posture, hence the name “rain dove.” They also water bathe in shallow pools or birdbaths and often engage in dust bathing as well.

Their flight is fast and bullet-straight. Outside of the breeding season, they roost communally in trees. Unlike many other species, they sleep by resting their heads between their shoulders, close to the body, rather than tucked under the shoulder feathers. To distract predators away from the nest, a parent will pretend to be injured and flap on the ground at a distance, then fly away from the predator at the last minute.

Diet

Mourning doves have a mainly herbivorous diet. They eat mostly a variety of grass and grain seeds, which make up 99% of their diet, and occasionally snails and insects. They often swallow grit in the form of fine gravel or sand to help with digestion later, and fly away after filling their crop. Being ground foragers, they prefer to eat what is readily visible on the ground or on plants.

What do mourning doves eat?

Rapeseed, corn, millet, safflower, sunflower, pine nuts, sweetgum seeds, pokeberry, amaranth, canary grass, corn, sesame, wheat seeds, buckwheat, rye, goosegrass, and smartweed seeds. They also enjoy corn.

Predators and Threats

Cats are the mourning dove’s biggest threat. It’s also considered a game bird and is hunted in approximately 40 states, depending on annual regulations. They and especially their babies are also often preyed upon by diurnal birds of prey such as hawks and falcons, along with corvids, grackles, and rat snakes. Lead poisoning from eating spent shot in hunting fields is another threat, and some hunters plant their favorite seed plants to lure them to the sites.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

They begin nest building in March, with the peak of their breeding season being April-July. In some areas, it is sometimes as late as October. Mourning doves are monogamous and remain with the same mate for future breeding seasons. They are prolific breeders and can have up to 6 broods in a season, which is necessary due to yearly mortality rates of 58% for adults and 69% for the young.

Mourning Doves sometimes reuse their own or other species’ nests. Males present nesting sites for females to choose from, after which the female builds the nest with the help of the male out of twigs, conifer needles, and grass blades in dense deciduous or coniferous trees. Females lay 1 to 2 eggs, which are incubated for 2 weeks before hatching. The babies are called squabs, and they are fed milk for 3 to 4 days, after which they also eat seeds. They begin fledging in 11 to 15 days and are still fed by their father for up to 2 weeks. The age of the first molt is 3 months, with adult molting occurring once every 14 days. At 85 days, they are able to breed. If the juveniles survive their first year, they can live for 4 to 5 years in the wild. In captivity, they can live for up to 19 years.

Population

The Mourning Dove’s conservation status is Least Concern according to the IUCN Red List. Its estimated population size is around 350 million in the US, with a global estimate of about 150 million mature individuals, and the trend is stable or slightly declining. In the states where it is hunted, about 17 to 24 million are shot by hunters each year. The western United States has seen a population decline due to lead poisoning from eating spent shot.