Number 1 Silhouette in Peterson’s "A Field Guide to Birds" -- Charlene Uhl

Sycamore Grove Farm, Madison County

Mourning doves; Credit: Charlene Uhl

I have always found the “roadside silhouettes” on the inside cover of Peterson’s "A Field Guide to the Birds East of the Rockies" to be an excellent bird identification tool. Even if the only thing you can see is the bird’s silhouette, it can narrow your choices very quickly. So I found it interesting that Roger Tory Peterson selected the mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) for that position. 

If you have ever heard a mourning dove, you can understand where its common name comes from - the mournful cooing made by both males and females. Its distinctive head bobbing as it walks is another clue to identifying this bird. 

Doves feed on the ground, swallowing seeds and storing them in an enlargement of their esophagus called the crop. Once the crop is full, a dove will fly to a perch to digest its meal. The record for ingested seeds is 17,200 bluegrass seeds in a single bird’s crop!

Mourning doves are monogamous and often mate for life.  They are known for making flimsy platform nests of twigs that often fall apart in a storm. The female usually lays two eggs and incubation takes just two weeks. Both adults feed their chicks crop-milk, which is regurgitated liquid that has been stored in the adult’s crop. This nutrient-rich liquid is used to nourish squabs (the name for young doves and pigeons). 

The mourning dove lives about two years and is one of our most common birds. It is usually found in open countryside and frequently seen roosting on telephone and electric lines. The only place you won’t see it is in deep woods. When it takes take off in flight, its wings make a distinctive whistling or whinnying noise. The oldest known mourning dove was at over 30 years old who it was shot in Florida in 1998. It had been banded in Georgia in 1968. The mourning dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. While every year hunters harvest more than 20 million, its population is actually increasing and is estimated to be around 350 million.

Happy birding!
    
Charlene
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