Pike County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs

Mourning Doves

Zenaida macroura

The mourning dove is a common bird throughout most of North America.  A little smaller than its imported cousin the rock dove (usually called a pigeon in cities), the mourning dove has a wingspan of about 15 inches and an overall length of 13 inches.  The mourning dove is the most plentiful and most sought after game bird in our country.

The mourning dove lives in a greatly varied habitat.  Large flocks of them live in rural areas where they can be a serious pest to grain farmers.  The doves also live in small towns, suburbia, and even urban parks where they may be found mooching birdseed from feeders.

 

A mated pair of mourning doves.

Mourning doves live on a diet of seeds with an insect thrown in now and then.  At nesting time, the female will lay two eggs in the crotch of a tree branch, usually placing some small sticks down first to level the "nest".  Despite their small clutches, the birds are quite prolific often nesting several times in a summer. Both the male and female incubate the eggs.

When the chicks hatch, the mother does not feed them regurgitated food.  Instead she feeds them "crop milk".  Made only by pigeons, doves, and a few other bird species, crop milk is a product formed by the sloughing off of cells in the dove's crop.  Both the male and female produce this highly nutritious product and take turns feeding the young.

 

A young mourning dove posing on a backyard feeder.

 

Mourning Doves migrate as the seasons change.  The birds you see today may be far away the next - or, maybe not.  Many birds stay in Pike County throughout the winter, particularly those used to backyard feeders.

The mourning dove gets its name its mournful song which sounds sort of like "woooo-woo-woo-woo".  The sound may be heard any time of the day but is especially common in the early morning.

Pike County residents may observe mourning doves most anywhere.  They are commonly seen along the shoulders of roads where they obtain gravel for their gizzards and seeds from weeds growing nearby.  They are easy attracted to bird feeders and will eat most any kind of birdseed. They have a special liking for sunflower, safflower, and millet.  They will also readily eat niger seed (also sold as black thistle seed), cracked corn, and whole corn.