- Zenaida macroura
Identification
- Light brown overall
- Gray crown
- Black mark on neck/cheek
- Black spots on coverts
- Dark primaries
- Long tail
- Inner feathers longest
- Outer feathers tipped white
Males have a rosy pink iridescence on their neck.
Wings whistle during take-off.
Distribution
Abundant and widespread across the USA and southern Canada from southern Alaska and British Columbia to Nova Scotia and south to Central America. A partial migrant with many birds in the north of the range moving south in August-September and returning north in April-May.
Has been recorded as a vagrant in Greenland. Extremely rare in the Western Palearctic, recorded twice in the British Isles, on the Isle of Man in October 1989 and in the Outer Hebrides in November 1999. Also, one in Iceland in October 1995 and one in Sweden in June 2001.
An introduced population is present in Hawaii.
Habitat
Open woodlands and cultivation, farmyards and gardens in towns.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 5 subspecies[1]:
- Z. m. macroura Mourning Dove (Caribbean):
Carolinensis Group (Mainland)
- Z. m. marginella':
- British Columbia to Baja California, western US and south-central Mexico
- Z. m. carolinensis:
- Z. m. clarionensis:
- Isla Clarión (Revillagigedo Islands off western Mexico)
- Z. m. turturilla:
- Costa Rica and western Panama
Behaviour
Common visitor to backyard bird feeders.
Vocalisation
A low series of coos ooo-a-ooo oooo ooo ooo
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Mourning Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Mourning_Dove
External Links