Mourning Dove

 

The Mourning Dove is an often seen bird here in northern California. Their cooing calls suggest sadness, thus the name “Mourning Dove.”

Male and female birds look similar. Their favorite feeder foods are mixed seed, cracked corn, millet, black-oiled and hulled sunflower seed. In the wild they eat waste grain in the fields, grass and other small seeds, fruits, and insects.

Mourning Doves are adapted for hot weather. In one minute, a dove can suck up more than three times its daily water requirement. Most other bird species must take one drink of water and tilt the head back to swallow.

This Mourning Dove is nesting near our front door. I peak out everyday to see if there are any baby heads sticking out of the nest.

 A Mourning Dove with her two babies. These doves were hatched last year in a nest near this year’s nest. The baby doves were this size before I saw them peak out at the world.