![]() However, if there are bird feeders, the doves might consider staying the season. The doves in the north may travel slightly southward, and those in mid-America and southward stay put. One wonders what age he would have reached if it were not for that trigger-happy shooter. Sadly, the oldest living mourning dove reached the esteemed age of 30 and 4 months (!) (banded in 1968) when he was shot down. Most songbirds have a very small chance of making it, due to predators and the weather.įor doves, specifically because they are ground feeders, cats are their enemy, as well as hawks, falcons, racoons, opossums, crows and grackles - making their average life span around 4-5 years. Mourning doves have a mortality rate of 50%, young adults even higher - 60-75%. And they never forget their makeup: blue rings around their eyes. Their backs are greyish or brown and their under parts are creamy buff-coloured, decorated with pink or iridescent purple spots. Notice the black spots on the wings and black-bordered white tips to the tail feathers. Their soft brown overall look has more than meets the eye. So if you see a silhouette of a small head, large body and long slender tail - no question - that’s a mourning dove.Īnd how about no neck? Well, wait until something gets their attention! Their neck shoots up like a spring!Ĭheck out what happens to this guy's neck at the start of the clip: Their slender tails are most unique among North American doves. Mourning doves have distinctive plump bodies compared with their small heads, small bills and short legs. In case you missed last week's bird-of-the-week: The Tufted-titmice Looks aren’t everything. Somehow, they manage to stay abundant with more than 350 million of them in the US alone! Mourning doves are the most hunted bird in the US. They cut the air like a knife when flying, reaching up to 55 mph due to their pointed wings and long slender tails! ![]() Perched on telephone poles, cooing as if lamenting, most don’t give them a second thought.īut there is more to them than meets the eye in this elegant bird. Their feeding and mating are extremely unique, their sound - warm and soothing. From Canada to Mexico, the most common sighting in the northern US is the mourning dove. ![]()
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