Mourning Dove
Zenaida macroura
Aves › Columbiformes › Columbidae › Zenaida
Conservation status: least_concern
This medium-sized, slender dove is a member of the dove family. It eats almost exclusively seeds, and its young are fed crop milk by their parents.
How To Identify
Medium-sized doves with soft grey-brown plumage; males often display a slightly darker coloration than females.
Habitat
Mourning Doves inhabit open and semi-open areas including grasslands, scrublands, agricultural fields, gardens, and woodland edges across North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Behaviour
Unlike most doves, Mourning Doves are highly migratory in northern regions and perform rapid, direct flight with distinctive whistling wing sounds when taking off.
Did You Know?
Mourning Doves produce nutritious 'crop milk' to feed their squabs, a secretion similar to mammalian milk that is unique among doves and pigeons. They are also named for their plaintive, mournful cooing call that sounds like 'ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo.'
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