Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
By Niyati Acharya
The Mourning dove is the most abundant dove species, the most abundant game bird and one of the most abundant songbirds in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas.
They can easily be identified by their beige-brown, pinkish-brown coloring, black spots on wings, pink-and-blue flash on the neck, and a ring of vivid blue skin that encircles the large, dark eyes. The Mourning Dove’s soft call, which gives the bird its name, is a sad-sounding cooOOoo-woo-woo-woooo.
Mourning Doves nest and rest in a variety of sites, including trees, tall shrubs, man-made structures and on the ground. Supplying an abundance of specific plants addresses nesting habitat. Trees, snags and utility lines provide resting habitat.
These doves primarily eat seeds, specifically seeds of barnyard grass, bristle grasses, corn, crotons panicums, paspalums, pigweeds, prickly poppies, ragweeds, sorghum, spurges, sunflowers and wheat. They prefer to feed on bare ground and usually avoid thick vegetation or places with lots of thatch on the ground. They are frequent visitors to backyard feeders, especially during the winter months. An abundance of food provided by humans may have helped the doves expand its range north.
They are among the few birds that can drink using suction. Other birds must drink water by filling their bill with the liquid, then tilting their heads back, relying upon gravity to deliver water to swallow.
An interesting non-vocal sound of the Mourning Dove is the loud “whistle” made by its wings as it takes off and lands. Air rushing through its wing feathers produces these sounds. The dove’s take-off and landing whistles serve as an alarm signal, warning other birds of potential dangers. These sounds are also associated with the dove’s courtship displays.
They breed from southern Canada through the lower 48 U.S. states and Mexico to Panama. Northern populations tend to be migratory, wintering from the northern U.S. through southern Mexico.
Many birds use regulated drops in night-time body temperature (Tb) to conserve energy critical to winter survival. However, a significant degree of hypothermia may limit a bird’s ability to respond to predatory attack. Researchers monitored the nocturnal hypothermia of mourning doves in a laboratory setting in response to food deprivation. Their research suggested that energy-saving hypothermia interferes with avian antipredator behavior via a reduction in flight ability, likely leading to a trade-off between energy-saving hypothermia and the risk of predation.
Sources include: American Bird Conservancy, Noble Research Institute, National Library of Medicine
Photo credit: Pearsall, Peter, Menke, Dave, Jim Hudgins, Karney, Lee, FWS.org
