I love Mourning Doves. I refer to them as my wild chickens. They walk around the garden pecking at the ground. I had three of them that I always saw together throughout the winter.
It's interesting that you have mourning doves all year. Here in Central New Mexico we have white-winged doves all year, but mourning doves disappear in winter and reappear in the spring.
Thank you for this story and the photos, Diane. I adore Mourning Doves. Their cooing always takes me back to summers spent at my Grandma's house in tiny-town, Iowa. We get a few at our home in West Des Moines and I feel so lucky to have them here. They always make me feel comforted with their soft color and soothing sound.
Love your February 14th pic! I have been putting scant amount of seed out for any and all ground feeding birds under fruit trees at the perimeter of the yard for a few years. It attracts several Mourning Doves as well as other ground feeders. I used to put it out at the crack of dawn. But I have found waiting until late morning, gives the birds a chance to find it later in the day and maybe not be so predictable to the predators? For several months I have had a single Mourning Dove quietly hoot through the night. At first I thought it was an owl. But, on paying closer attention to some Mourning dove hooting, I do think it is a morning dove, perhaps missing a lost mate?
Years ago when I lived on the West Coast, a pair of mourning doves nested in a hanging planter on my back porch. It was not a good nest site. Some predatory bird or other came and ate the nestlings. The parent doves seemed so distressed--one or the other of them kept returning for days, looking into the nest in a way that, to me, seemed confused and bereft. I think of those poor birds every time I see or hear mourning doves.
The brutal truth is that Mourning Doves are lucky if half of the their nests succeed in any year. Part of their success as a species is that if a nest fails (is predated), the parents can start over with new eggs in just a few days.
Not that I dispute their sorrow. Watching Mourning Doves, I find it hard not to see them as expressing emotions that I feel myself.
I think the shape of their heads and beaks and their gray color affect our perception of them. And of course their call. They just look and sound mournful!
I know quite a few people don't like to have them around, especially on feeders. They do eat a lot and drop a lot from both ends. Still, I like them. I have Mourning Doves and White-winged Doves.
I feel for people who are grieved by the life of other species on our planet. Sigh.
As for dropping from both ends, I have found that it's best not to offer seeds with shells over patio or walkways where I don't want the litter to build up. I offer hulled sunflower hearts from hanging feeders. No waste. What falls is quickly consumed by ground feeders.
I love Mourning Doves. I refer to them as my wild chickens. They walk around the garden pecking at the ground. I had three of them that I always saw together throughout the winter.
I wish they would work on their take offs. They are the ones the predators pick off. Thanks for the information.
Yes! I see the shared heart!
Ah, I'm so pleased you found it.
Thank you. I understand their behavior better now. I have been seeing a couple of young ones in my garden.
It's interesting that you have mourning doves all year. Here in Central New Mexico we have white-winged doves all year, but mourning doves disappear in winter and reappear in the spring.
Love them! The unmistakable cooing and calling, very dear.
O Wow! My Inner-Poet is Revving up! Such...poetry the Doves incite, huh! Thanks for the Fodder, O Divine Diane! ;<))
Thank you for this story and the photos, Diane. I adore Mourning Doves. Their cooing always takes me back to summers spent at my Grandma's house in tiny-town, Iowa. We get a few at our home in West Des Moines and I feel so lucky to have them here. They always make me feel comforted with their soft color and soothing sound.
What is the name other people use for tiny town Iowa?
Deloit. Just about 5 miles outside of Denison.
Love your February 14th pic! I have been putting scant amount of seed out for any and all ground feeding birds under fruit trees at the perimeter of the yard for a few years. It attracts several Mourning Doves as well as other ground feeders. I used to put it out at the crack of dawn. But I have found waiting until late morning, gives the birds a chance to find it later in the day and maybe not be so predictable to the predators? For several months I have had a single Mourning Dove quietly hoot through the night. At first I thought it was an owl. But, on paying closer attention to some Mourning dove hooting, I do think it is a morning dove, perhaps missing a lost mate?
Years ago when I lived on the West Coast, a pair of mourning doves nested in a hanging planter on my back porch. It was not a good nest site. Some predatory bird or other came and ate the nestlings. The parent doves seemed so distressed--one or the other of them kept returning for days, looking into the nest in a way that, to me, seemed confused and bereft. I think of those poor birds every time I see or hear mourning doves.
The brutal truth is that Mourning Doves are lucky if half of the their nests succeed in any year. Part of their success as a species is that if a nest fails (is predated), the parents can start over with new eggs in just a few days.
Not that I dispute their sorrow. Watching Mourning Doves, I find it hard not to see them as expressing emotions that I feel myself.
I think the shape of their heads and beaks and their gray color affect our perception of them. And of course their call. They just look and sound mournful!
I know quite a few people don't like to have them around, especially on feeders. They do eat a lot and drop a lot from both ends. Still, I like them. I have Mourning Doves and White-winged Doves.
I feel for people who are grieved by the life of other species on our planet. Sigh.
As for dropping from both ends, I have found that it's best not to offer seeds with shells over patio or walkways where I don't want the litter to build up. I offer hulled sunflower hearts from hanging feeders. No waste. What falls is quickly consumed by ground feeders.