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| Mourning Dove: Zenaida macroura |
| The mourning dove belongs to the pigeon and dove family. In my opionion, it probably has that sad graveyard coo because it is hunted and killed a lot by man. When I got interested in birds and my husband and I were out walking in the woods, we ran across a whole section of the forest and a sign was posted: It said "Dove hunting", and I could not believe my eyes: I could not believe that this was a form of sport, hunting and killing doves! Mourning dove is an American bird with a sad, cooing call. It breeds in southeastern Alaska and from southern Canada to Mexico, and winters as far south as Panama. The bird is about 12 inches (30 centimeters) long. It flies swiftly, and its wings make a whistling sound as they move through the air. The mourning dove places its nest, built loosely of twigs, in a tree or bush or on the ground. The female lays two white eggs. The young hatch in about two weeks and leave the nest in about two more weeks. Young birds put their beaks in the parents' throats and feed on partly digested food mixed with a fluid called crop milk. Mourning doves eat weed seeds and insects. During nest-building, the female stays at the nest and the male collects sticks. He stands on her back to give her the nest material. She takes it and weaves it into the nest. Maybe that's why the nests are so poorly built! The Mourning Dove almost invariably lays two eggs. Clutches of three or four are the result of more than one female laying in the nest. A dove may have up to five or six clutches in a single year. A Mourning Dove pair rarely leaves its eggs unattended. The male usually incubates from midmorning until late afternoon, and the female sits the rest of the day and night. The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. Despite being hunted throughout most of its range, it remains among the 10 most abundant birds in the United States. |
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| Is Alive and Well |