Zenaida macroura
Don DesJardin
Mourning Doves are
pigeon-like birds that grow up to 12 inches long. Their
coloring is tannish-gray with black spots on their wings.
They have long, pointed tails with a white tip. Mourning Doves live in
fields,
parks, open woods, and roadsides. They are one of our most
common birds. People hear Mourning
Doves almost every day. Their low mournful song is easy to
recognize. Mourning Doves can be
found in our area year-round.
Huntley Meadows Park
Wind Cave National
Park Mourning Doves build
their nests in shrubs,
trees, or vines.
Sometimes they build them on the ground. Materials they use
include twigs,
sticks, grass, weeds,
and rootlets.
Sometimes, instead of making their own nest, a pair of doves
will use an old nest of a catbird, robin, grackle, or other
bird. The female dove lays two
white eggs. They hatch in about two weeks. Baby Mourning
Doves leave the nest after another two weeks. Parent doves
feed their young "pigeon's milk" for the first few days of
their lives. Pigeon's milk is regurgitated
(thrown up) food from the parent.
Copyright, Ron
Austing
Mourning Doves eat mostly
seeds from grasses and weeds. They also eat some fruits,
pine seeds, acorns,
snails, and insects. While Mourning Doves
usually pick evergreen
trees to nest in, other trees they will roost
in may include: Red Maple, Sugar Maple, Black Cherry,
American Elm, Black Locust, Yellow Poplar, American Beech,
oaks, American Sycamore, Sweetgum, and Sassafras.
Predators
of Mourning Doves include Raccoon, hawks, owls, Blue Jay,
squirrels, snakes, cats, dogs, and humans. Mourning Doves help
plants spread by eating fruits
or seeds and then pooping them out in new
locations. Lucy Niedbala
