It's calumny, however, because the birds called doves are revered and those called pigeons reviled. Pigeons and doves belong to the same family of birds, which includes about 300 species worldwide. Strictly speaking, this is true, despite the difference in names. "First the doves," she warned, "and then the robins." She was a keen hunter and a dedicated conservationist, and she argued that hunting pressure would manage population numbers and provide good sport.Īgainst the argument arose a state senator from Turtle Lake, N.D., Shirley Lee, who loved the doves as songbirds and saw hunting them as a threat not just to doves but to other species, as well. Stella Fritzell, a state senator from Grand Forks, pretty much single handedly advanced the idea. Whether doves should be legal quarry produced a memorable debate in one of the first legislative sessions that I covered. Of course, this frequent nesting increases the numbers of doves. In our area, doves often produce two broods a year, with the nesting season extending from May through August. This is important because dove nests are often destroyed by high winds. These may provide more cover, but critically, they also provide a more secure platform than deciduous trees. At our place west of Gilby, N.D., the doves seem invariably to choose evergreen trees. The mourning dove’s primary songa distinctive woeful call known as a perch coo is a two-syllable coo followed by two or three louder coos: Coo-woo, WOO, WOO, WOO. The nests are simple affairs, a platform of sticks laid across a fork in the branches. Where cover is available, they may nest in trees as close to the ground as a foot or as far above it as 12 feet. In open country, they may nest on the ground. Mourning doves are indiscriminate in their choice of nesting sites. So do the prominent white patches that show in the tail of a fleeing bird.
This and a head that is small in proportion to the body gives perching doves a distinctly pointed look, so that a dove on a branch or a wire can be identified at quite a distance The long tail helps distinguish a dove in flight. The mourning dove is roughly robin-sized, but it has a much longer tail. It is a rich fawn color, in some light almost iridescent, and in some light tending, however slightly, to pink or even pale purple or mauve, especially in males. It would be easy to dismiss mourning doves as plain brown birds, but this would overlook subtleties of the plumage.
This is essential to mourning doves, because the birds share parenting duties, including incubation. The mourning dove advertises with its call, which helps maintain the bond between male and female birds. Its call is distinctive, two coo sounds then a pause followed by another noise, like this: "Woo! Woo." Breath. I encountered this species last week on the state capitol grounds in Bismarck.
Confusion could arise nowadays, with the rapid spread of the Eurasian collared dove.
MOURNING DOVE SOUND SERIES
Of course, the mourning dove is recognized for its call, a fairly low-pitched series of cooing notes, usually three or four but sometimes more. Since the mourning dove is conspicuous as well as abundant, it also is one of the continent's most readily recognized bird species.īesides that, it is widely appreciated as a game bird.
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