Mourning Dove
The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a slender, soft brown dove of North America whose soft, cooing call gives it its name. It is one of the most abundant and widely hunted birds on the continent.
The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a slender, soft brown dove of North America whose soft, cooing call gives it its name. It is one of the most abundant and widely hunted birds on the continent.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Mourning Dove in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Reptilia lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
Whistling Wings
When the dove takes off, its wings produce a whistling sound. It flies fast and straight, up to about 90 kilometers per hour. Mourning doves eat seeds, mostly from the ground, and store them in their crop before digesting them in safety.
Flimsy Nests, Many Broods
The nest is a thin platform of twigs, but the pair may raise several broods a year, each of two young fed on crop milk. This high reproductive rate supports heavy hunting.
Thriving Near People
Open farmland, suburbs and feeders have helped the dove. It is a relative of the rock pigeon and the extinct passenger pigeon. See Rock Pigeon.
Mourning Dove at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Zenaida macroura |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Columbiformes |
| Family | Columbidae |
| Field Guide group | Reptilia: Aves (Birds) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Slim tan bird with a long pointed tail and black wing spots; mournful cooing song; wings whistle on takeoff. |
| IUCN Red List status | Least Concern (LC), assessed 2024 |
| Family | Columbidae |
| Chick food | Crop milk |