Mourning dove
Mourning dove Temporal range:
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In Deschutes National Forest, Oregon | |
Mourning Dove vocalizations | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Columbiformes |
Family: | Columbidae |
Genus: | Zenaida |
Species: | Z. macroura
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Binomial name | |
Zenaida macroura | |
Subspecies | |
See text | |
Approximate distribution map
Breeding
Year-round
Nonbreeding
Introduced
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Synonyms | |
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The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, the chueybird, colloquially as the turtle dove, and it was once known as the Carolina pigeon and Carolina turtledove.[2] It is one of the most abundant and widespread North American birds and a popular gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure is due to its prolific breeding; in warm areas, one pair may raise up to six broods of two young each in a single year. The wings make an unusual whistling sound upon take-off and landing, a form of sonation. The bird is a strong flier, capable of speeds up to 88 km/h (55 mph).[3]
Mourning doves are light gray 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.
Taxonomy
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Cladogram showing the positions of the doves in the genus Zenaida.[4] |
In 1731, the English naturalist
To resolve the confusion over the binomial names of the two species,
The mourning dove is now placed in the genus
The mourning dove is closely related to the eared dove (Zenaida auriculata) and the Socorro dove (Zenaida graysoni). Some authorities consider them a superspecies, and the three birds are sometimes classified in the separate genus Zenaidura,[15] but the current classification has them as separate species in the genus Zenaida. In addition, the Socorro dove has at times been considered conspecific with the mourning dove, though several differences in behavior, call, and appearance justify separation as two different species.[16] While the three species do form a subgroup of Zenaida, using a separate genus would interfere with the monophyly of Zenaida by making it paraphyletic.[15]
There are five subspecies:[13]
- Zenaida macroura marginella (Woodhouse, 1852) – west Canada and west USA to south central Mexico
- Zenaida macroura carolinensis (Bahama Islands
- Zenaida macroura macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) – (nominate subspecies) Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, Jamaica
- Zenaida macroura clarionensis (Townsend, CH, 1890) – Clarion Island (off west Mexico)
- Zenaida macroura turturilla (Wetmore, 1956) – Costa Rica, west Panama
The ranges of most of the subspecies overlap a little, with three in the
The mourning dove is sometimes called the "American mourning dove" to distinguish it from the distantly related mourning collared dove (Streptopelia decipiens) of Africa.[15] It was also formerly known as the "Carolina turtledove" and the "Carolina pigeon".[19] The "mourning" part of its common name comes from its doleful call.[20]
The mourning dove was thought to be the passenger pigeon's closest living relative on morphological grounds[21][22] until genetic analysis showed Patagioenas pigeons are more closely related. The mourning dove was even suggested to belong to the same genus, Ectopistes, and was listed by some authors as E. carolinensis.[23] The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was hunted to extinction in the early 1900s.[24][25]
Description
The mourning dove is a medium-sized, slender dove approximately 31 cm (12 in) in length. Mourning doves weigh 112–170 g (4.0–6.0 oz), usually closer to 128 g (4.5 oz).[26] The mourning dove has a wingspan of 37–45 cm.[27] The elliptical wings are broad, and the head is rounded. Its tail is long and tapered ("macroura" comes from the Greek words for "large" and "tail"[28]). Mourning doves have perching feet, with three toes forward and one reversed. The legs are short and reddish colored. The beak is short and dark, usually a brown-black hue.[17]
The plumage is generally light gray-brown and lighter and pinkish below. The wings have black spotting, and the outer tail feathers are white, contrasting with the black inners. Below the eye is a distinctive crescent-shaped area of dark feathers. The eyes are dark, with light blue skin surrounding them.[17] The adult male has bright purple-pink patches on the neck sides, with light pink coloring reaching the breast. The crown of the adult male is a distinctly bluish-grey color. Females are similar in appearance but with more brown coloring overall and a little smaller than the male. The iridescent feather patches on the neck above the shoulders are nearly absent but can be quite vivid on males. Juvenile birds have a scaly appearance and are generally darker.[17]
Feather colors are generally believed to be relatively static, changing only by small amounts over periods of months. However, a 2011 study argued that since feathers have neither nerves or blood vessels, color changes must be caused by external stimuli. Researchers analyzed how feathers of iridescent mourning doves responded to stimulus changes of adding and evaporating water. As a result, it was discovered that
All five subspecies of the mourning dove look similar and are not easily distinguishable.[17] The nominate subspecies possesses shorter wings and are darker and more buff-colored than the "average" mourning dove. Z. m. carolinensis has longer wings and toes, a shorter beak, and is darker in color. The western subspecies has longer wings, a longer beak and shorter toes, and is more muted and lighter in color. The Panama mourning dove has shorter wings and legs, a longer beak, and is grayer in color. The Clarion Island subspecies possesses larger feet, a larger beak, and is darker brown in color.[18]
Vocalization
This species' call is a distinctive, plaintive cooOOoo-wooo-woo-woooo, uttered by males to attract females, and it may be mistaken for the call of an owl at first. (Close up, a grating or throat-rattling sound may be heard preceding the first coo.) Other sounds include a nested call (cooOOoo) by paired males to attract their female mates to the nest sites, a greeting call (a soft ork) by males upon rejoining their mates, and an alarm call (a short roo-oo) by either a male or female when threatened. In flight, the wings make a fluttery whistling sound that is hard to hear. The wing whistle is much louder and more noticeable upon take-off and landing.[17]
Distribution and habitat
The mourning dove has a large
The mourning dove occupies a wide variety of open and semi-open habitats, such as urban areas, farms, prairie, grassland, and lightly wooded areas. It avoids swamps and thick forest.[32]
Migration
Most mourning doves migrate along flyways over land. Birds in Canada migrate the farthest, probably wintering in Mexico or further south. Those that spend the summer further south are more sedentary, with much shorter migrations. At the southern part of their range, Mourning Doves are present year-round.[17]
Spring migration north runs from March to May. Fall migration south runs from September to November, with immatures moving first, followed by adult females and then by adult males.[31] Migration is usually during the day, in flocks, and at low altitudes.[32]
Behaviour and ecology
Mourning doves sunbathe or rain bathe by lying on the ground or a flat tree limb, leaning over, stretching one wing, and keeping this posture for up to twenty minutes. These birds can also water bathe in shallow pools or birdbaths.
Outside the breeding season, mourning doves roost communally in dense deciduous trees or conifers. During sleep, the head rests between the shoulders, close to the body; it is not tucked under the shoulder feathers as in many other species. During the winter in Canada, roosting flights to the roosts in the evening, and out of the roosts in the morning, are delayed on colder days.[34]
Breeding
The male then leads the female to potential nest sites, and the female will choose one. The female dove builds the nest. The male will fly about, gather material, and bring it to her. The male will stand on the female's back and give the material to the female, who then builds it into the nest.
Most nests are in
The clutch size is almost always two
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Egg in nest
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Nesting in progress
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Squabs
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A juvenile
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Adult
Mourning doves are prolific breeders. In warmer areas, these birds may raise to six broods in a season.[32] This fast breeding is essential because mortality is high. Each year, mortality can reach 58% a year for adults and 69% for the young.[37]
The mourning dove is generally monogamous and forms strong pair bonds.[37]
Feeding
Mourning doves eat almost exclusively seeds, which make up more than 99% of their diet.[35] Rarely, they will eat snails or insects.[38] Mourning doves generally eat enough to fill their crops and then fly away to digest while resting. They often swallow grit such as fine gravel or sand to assist with digestion. The species usually forages on the ground, walking but not hopping.[32] At bird feeders, mourning doves are attracted to one of the largest ranges of seed types of any North American bird, with a preference for rapeseed, corn, millet, safflower, and sunflower seeds. Mourning doves do not dig or scratch for seeds, though they will push aside ground litter; instead, they eat what is readily visible.[18][35] They will sometimes perch on plants and eat from there.[32]
Mourning doves show a preference for the seeds of certain species of plant over others. Foods taken in preference to others include
Predators and parasites
The primary predators of this species are diurnal
Mourning doves can be afflicted with several different diseases and
Conservation status
The number of individual mourning doves was estimated to be approximately 475 million in 1994,
In culture
A Huron/Wyandot legend tells of a maiden named Ayu'ra (modernly spelled Iohara) who used to care for the bird, who came to love her a great deal. One day, she became sick and died. As her spirit traveled across the land to the entrance to the Underworld, all the doves followed her and tried to gain entrance into the Underworld alongside her. Sky Woman, the deity who guards this door, refused them entry, eventually creating smoke to blind them and take Ayu'ra's spirit away without their knowledge. The smoke stained their feathers gray and they have been in mourning for the maiden's loss ever since.[45] The logic behind the story is a play on words—the sound many Native Americans attributed to the bird was "howe howe," and this is also the sound the Iroquoian peoples used to chant over the dead at funerary events.[original research?]
The eastern mourning dove (Z. m. carolinensis) is Wisconsin's official symbol of peace.[46] The bird is also Michigan's state bird of peace.[47]
The mourning dove appears as the Carolina turtle-dove on plate 286 of
References to mourning doves appear frequently in Native American literature. Mourning Dove was the pen name of
The mourning dove is mentioned on the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis track, "Wood Dove", for the "For the Birds: The Birdsong Project", Vol. 2.
The mourning dove is also mentioned in other musical tracks, including Ray Charles' rendition of the popular blues song "Careless Love" and "I Love You, I Love You (I Will Never Let You Go)".
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ISBN 0517032880
- ^ Bastin, E. W. (1952). "Flight-speed of the Mourning Dove". Wilson Bulletin. 64 (1): 47.
- PMID 26312335.
- ^ Catesby, Mark (1731). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Vol. 1. London: W. Innys and R. Manby. pp. 23, 24, Plates 23, 24.
- ^ Edwards, George (1743). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Vol. Part I & II. London: Printed for the author, at the College of Physicians. p. 15 Plate 15.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 164.
- ^ a b Bangs, O. (1906). "The names of the passenger pigeon and the mourning dove". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 19: 43–44.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae: per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. pp. 285, 286.
- .
- ^ Hemming, Francis, ed. (1955). "Direction 18: Designation under the Plenary Powers of a lectotype for the nominal species Columba macroura Linnaeus, 1758, to secure that that name shall apply to the Mourning Dove and that the name Columba migratoria Linnaeus, 1766, shall be the oldest available name for the Passenger Pigeon (Direction supplementary to Opinion 67)". Opinions and declarations rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Vol. 1, Section C Part C.9. London: International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. pp. 113–132.
- ^ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1838). A Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America. London: John Van Voorst. p. 41.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Pigeons". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ a b c d South American Classification Committee American Ornithologists' Union. "Part 3. Columbiformes to Caprimulgiformes". A classification of the bird species of South America. Archived from the original on January 9, 2010. Retrieved 2006-10-11.
- ^ American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. p. 225. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
- ^ ISBN 0-7922-4175-4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)", NRCS, p. 3
- ^ ISBN 1-55859-128-1. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
- ^ "Pigeon". Encarta Online. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
- ^ Blockstein, David E. (2002). "Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius". In Poole, Alan; Gill, Frank (eds.). The Birds of North America. Vol. 611. Philadelphia: The Birds of North America, Inc. p. 4.
- Audubon Society. Archived from the originalon 20 September 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ^ Brewer, Thomas Mayo (1840). Wilson's American Ornithology: with Notes by Jardine; to which is Added a Synopsis of American Birds, Including those Described by Bonaparte, Audubon, Nuttall, and Richardson. Boston: Otis, Broaders, and Company. p. 717.
- ^ The Biology and natural history of the Mourning Dove Archived 2012-09-20 at the Wayback Machine. Ringneckdove.com. Retrieved on 2013-03-23.
- ^ The Mourning Dove in Missouri. the Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri (1990) mdc.mo.gov
- ^ Miller, Wilmer J. (1969-01-16). "The biology and Natural History of the Mourning Dove". Archived from the original on 2012-09-20. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
Mourning doves weigh 4–6 ounces, usually close to the lesser weight.
- ^ Oiseaux.net. "Tourterelle triste – Zenaida macroura – Mourning Dove". www.oiseaux.net. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
- ISBN 0-87484-053-8.
- PMID 21411302. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
- ^ Birdlife International. "Mourning Dove – BirdLife Species Factsheet". Retrieved 2006-10-08.
- ^ a b "Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)", NRCS, p. 2.
- ^ ISBN 0-395-77017-3.
- American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. p. 224. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
- doi:10.1139/z94-171.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Mourning Dove". Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
- ^ a b "Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)", NRCS, p. 4
- ^ a b c d "Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)", NRCS, p. 1
- ^ "Mourning Dove | Audubon Field Guide". Audubon. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
- JSTOR 4089523.
- ^ "Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)", NRCS, p. 6
- ^ Mirarchi, R.E., and Baskett, T.S. 1994. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). In The Birds of North America, No. 117 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists' Union.
- ISBN 0811719405.
- ^ "Cornell NestWatch Mourning Dove". NestWatch. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- ^ "United States Geological Survey". www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
- ^ Connelly, William Elsey (1928). Indian Myths. Rand McNally. p. 106 "How the Dove got its Color and Song".
- ^ Wisconsin Historical Society (23 May 2012). "Wisconsin State Symbols". Retrieved 2014-07-30.
- ^ Audi, Tamara (2006-10-16). "Dove hunting finds place on Mich. ballot". USA Today. Retrieved 2006-10-25.
- ^
ISBN 0914946978
- ^ "Poetry". Friends of Lorine Niedecker. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
- ^ Meditation on Song and Structure Archived 2008-07-25 at the Wayback Machine from Negative Blue: Selected Later Poems by Charles Wright
Cited texts
- "Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)" (PDF). Fish and Wildlife Habitat Management leaflet 31. National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS). February 2006. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-23. Retrieved 2006-10-08.
External links
- Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the mourning dove
- Mourning dove – Zenaida macroura – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Mourning dove Movies (Tree of Life)
- Mourning Dove: Breed Guide Pigeonpedia.com
- Mourning dove photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)