Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Mourning Dove

Zenaida macroura

Description:

The Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family (Columbidae). The bird is also called the Turtle Dove or the American Mourning Dove or Rain Dove, and formerly was known as the Carolina Pigeon or Carolina Turtledove.[2] It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds. It is also the leading gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and for meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure stems from its prolific breeding: in warm areas, one pair may raise up to six broods a year. Its plaintive woo-OO-oo-oo-oo call gives the bird its name. The wings can make an unusual whistling sound upon take-off and landing. The bird is a strong flier, capable of speeds up to 88 km/h (55 mph).[3] Mourning Doves are light grey and brown and generally muted in color. Males and females are similar in appearance. The species is generally monogamous, with two squabs (young) per brood. Both parents incubate and care for the young. Mourning Doves eat almost exclusively seeds, but the young are fed crop milk by their parents. (Wikipedia)

Habitat:

Open wheat fields

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

3 Comments

birdlady6000
birdlady6000 11 years ago

This is very beautifully done!

Ava T-B
Ava T-B 11 years ago

One of my favorite themes: birds on barbed wire.

Seema
Seema 11 years ago

nice pic..

Steve Lenz
Spotted by
Steve Lenz

Washington, USA

Spotted on Mar 31, 2012
Submitted on Sep 28, 2012

Related Spottings

Zenaida Dove Zenaida Dove Zenaida Dove Mourning Dove

Nearby Spottings

Spotting Snowy Tree Cricket North American Beaver Pacific Gopher Snake

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team