It’s a clear, crisp January morning. As I look across the prairie at the arching limbs of two large shagbark hickories, I notice six large lumps arrayed against the winter sky. Over the next hour, one of my favorite winter scenes will unfold in slow motion as the sun gains height and warms the lumps. Through my binoculars, I can appreciate the beautiful soft grey and brown tones of these Mourning Doves. At first, most of their heads are drawn close to their bodies, their feathers fluffed for warmth. Their closed eyes reveal amazing blue eyelids. I zoom in on their colorful spectacles and the neat penciled black dots on their wings. As the sun warms them, a few of the birds begin to shift and stretch their wings, open their shiny black eyes, and reveal pinkish legs as they stand. Many of their heads and necks are sunset colored—purple, rose, and yellow. One by one, the lumps morph into the oval shapes of doves tapering into slim necks and small heads with long pointed tails. Finally, some signal is given, and with whistling wings, the flock takes flight across the prairie to begin a day of feeding and resting.
Mourning Doves in a tree at Fair Meadows Sanctuary on a December 2024 morning (photo by Gary Shackelford).
Mourning Doves are one of our most common birds, with a US population estimated at 350 million. In the recent Madison-area Christmas Bird Count, they were the fifth most common land bird (after House Sparrows, European Starlings, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Black-capped Chickadees). In the Fort Atkinson count, which covers relatively more rural territory, they were third, behind only House Sparrows and European Starlings.
If you were asked to design a bird that would thrive in the present day United States, you would come up with the features of a Mourning Dove. They fly fast, live in multiple habitats (they can be found everywhere except deep forests, even in our own yards), nest almost anywhere (shrubs, trees, ledges, the ground), and eat any kind of seed (cultivated or wild). Their nests are simple affairs of small twigs and grass stems thrown together in a few days.
Accipiters, like this Sharp-shinned Hawk, may prey upon doves (photo by Gary Shackelford).
It’s a good thing that these doves are so adaptable, because the average lifespan of an adult is only one year. They are susceptible to predation by falcons and accipiters, mammals (especially raccoons and domestic cats), and rat snakes. The eggs or nestlings may be taken by Blue Jays, fox squirrels, and, again, domestic cats.
Mourning Doves are one of my favorite birds. I love their soft, unmistakable call, especially the “perch” or “advertising” call mostly used by unmated males during nesting season. It’s a two-syllable coo-oo followed by three louder OO OO OO. Some, like my husband when he was a boy, may mistake the call for an owl at first, but quickly learn it as the call of a dove. When my granddaughter was about four years old, she first became interested in birds by learning this beautiful song.
A Mourning Dove with fluffed up feathers. Note the blue “eyeliner” (photo by Gary Shackelford).
Another feature I enjoy about doves is their practice of rain bathing. They lean over then lift their wings and elevate their feathers to let the rain penetrate toward their body. After that, they give a good shake and wait for the sun to dry them off.
I also am amazed by these birds’ mammal-like adaptation of producing “crop milk.” The crop is a muscular pouch near the gullet in both male and female doves that contains specialized cells which produce a nutritious yellow substance. Newly hatched young cannot digest seed, so parents feed them only this milk for a few days before adding increasing amounts of seed to the regurgitated mixture.
The northernmost populations of Mourning Doves migrate as far south as Mexico and Central America in the winter, though in some areas, birds may stay year-round. The flocks of doves I enjoy watching during these colder months could be composed of both. I hope some of Wisconsin’s doves enjoy the warmth and bounty of Texas and Louisiana or Florida and Georgia before returning in the spring.
For more detailed information about Mourning Doves, check out the February 23, 2023 Friday Feathered Feature from Goose Pond Sanctuary about data collected from local banding projects.
Written by Penny Shackelford, Fair Meadows Sanctuary resident manager
Cover image by Gary Shackelford. A Mourning Dove sits upright on a snowy branch.
