Ever seen a fast flurry of wings in your backyard and then watched a smooth, brown bird soar up into the sky? You may have seen a mourning dove! They’re often found in backyards all over North America. These peaceful birds, famous for their soft, sad-sounding song, are fun to watch. But with more than a few kinds of doves living in the same kind of places, how can you be sure if you’ve seen a mourning dove?
This guide gives you ten key points to help you tell for sure if you’ve seen a mourning dove in your backyard, turning quick sightings into happy moments of sureness. You’ll not only feel good knowing the name of your bird friend, but you’ll also love to learn about what makes mourning doves such great guests.
Identify Mourning Doves with These 10 Tips
1. The Telltale Tail: A Key Differentiator
One unique thing about a mourning dove is its tail. It’s not short and rounded like pigeons’, but long, and comes to a sharp point. The tip often has a touch of white, which stands out against the dove’s feathers.
How to tell Mourning Doves from Rock Pigeons? Look at the tail. Mourning doves’ tails are sharp and white-tipped, unlike the shorter, stubby tails of rock pigeons.
2. Unveiling the Overall Shape: Slender and Delicate
Mourning doves have a sleek, elegant shape. Their tiny head seems pretty modest against their chubby body, making a balanced outline. Usually, their chest is full, underscoring their calm nature.
Key Characteristics:
- Slender body
- Small head relative to body
- Round chest
3. A Closer Look at Coloration: Earthy Tones with Subtle Variations
A mourning dove’s feathers match its habitat quite well. Often, they’re a gentle tan or a gray-brown. This lets them hide really well among trees, fields, and gardens. The wings are different though. They have a few dark spots which give texture. The tail feathers tend to be darker than the body. The outer ones have white tips too.
Color can sometimes help in telling birds apart. For instance, male mourning doves might have a bit of blue on their heads, and females a touch of pink. But these small color changes can mix up sometimes. So, we cannot always depend on them to identify the bird’s gender.
Coloration:
- Body: Tan or grayish-brown
- Wings: Dark spots
- Tail: Darker than body, with white tips
- Males (optional): Faint bluish head tint
- Females (optional): Pinkish head hue (may overlap)
4. The Song of Mourning: A Wistful Melody
We often hear the soft, sad coo of the mourning dove in our backyards. We call it “mourning” because of these long, peaceful coos. They’re a wonderful part of the early morning, usually heard when the sun starts to rise or sets.
Another cool thing about mourning doves is the whistle sound they make when they fly. This isn’t from their beaks, but from their wings quickly moving when they take off.
Mourning Dove Calls:
- Mournful cooing song (source of their name)
- Whistling sound when taking flight (wings, not beak)
5. Ground Feeders with a Sudden Burst of Speed
Mourning doves love eating from the ground. They spend lots of time searching for seeds and grains, especially in open spots. This way, they can easily see the whole area and spot dangers. While on the ground, they seem pretty simple. But don’t think they’re always so calm. Mourning doves can fly super fast! They can suddenly shoot up into the air and dart around quickly to avoid danger.
Behavior:
- Ground feeders
- Often found in open areas
- Fast, powerful flight with sudden changes in direction
6. Habitat Preferences: A Landscape of Open Spaces
Knowing where doves like to hang out can really boost the odds of seeing them in your yard. These flexible creatures enjoy open spaces with a few trees, gardens, or fields. They are especially attracted to spots that blend open areas for food hunting and places to rest, which also help them to keep an eye on their habitat.
Preferred Habitat:
- Open areas with scattered trees
- Fields
- Gardens
7. Distinguishing Mourning Doves from Lookalike Species
Mourning doves often visit backyards, but other dove varieties can appear similar. Here are some comparable species and how to tell them apart from mourning doves:
- Rock Pigeons (Columba livia): Rock Pigeons, or Columba livia, are easy to spot in cities. They’re bigger than mourning doves. Also, their tails are shorter and boxier. Their feathers usually combine gray and brown colors, without the speckles on the wings found in their mourning dove counterparts.
- Eurasian Collared-Doves (Streptopelia decaocto): These are close to the size of mourning doves but easily noticeable with a black collar round their neck, which the mourning doves don’t have. Also, their feathers are typically of a single brown shade. This prevents them from having the wing speckles or little color changes seen in mourning doves.
- White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica): They live up to their name with noticeable white spots on their wings. This is different from their mourning dove peers. They usually have feathers more on the light gray side, differing from the tan or gray-brown tones of mourning doves.
Mourning Dove vs. Lookalike Species
| Feature | Mourning Dove | Rock Pigeon | Eurasian Collared-Dove | White-winged Dove |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | Medium | Large | Medium | Medium |
| Build | Slender | Stocky | Slender | Slender |
| Tail | Long, pointed, white tips | Short, square | Long, pointed | Long, pointed |
| Plumage | Tan/grayish-brown, spotted wings | Gray/brown mix | Uniform brown, black collar | Dove-gray, white wing patches |
Tip: Here’s a useful tip: Use a bird recognition guide or app. Something like the Merlin Bird ID from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology can really aid you in identifying any unfamiliar dove species.
8. The Power of Knowledge: Utilizing Birdwatching Resources
If you’re into birdwatching, here’s a quick rundown of handy tools: Internet-based Bird Identification Guides.
- Online Bird Identification Guides: Check out sites like Audubon Society, and All About Birds. They provide cool close-ups and in-depth details on bird species, like mourning doves.
- Birdwatching Apps: No more guesswork with Apps like Merlin Bird ID. Snap a photo or capture a bird song – get quick identification help.
- Field Guides: Why not get a specific guide for your area? Not just a book, but a sleek guide packed with illustrations, distribution maps, bird behavior, and call descriptions.
So, get a grip on these tools for a confident bird ID. You’ll soon identify not only mourning doves but a wide variety of birds visiting your backyard.
9. The Art of Observation: Combining Clues for Accurate Identification
Single traits can offer clues, but depending only on one might not lead to a certain identification. The trick is to merge multiple observations. Here’s the approach:
- Observe the overall shape and size. Is it medium-sized and slim, like a mourning dove often is?
- Note the tail shape and coloration. Is it long and pointed with white tips?
- Listen for the calls. Does the bird make a sad cooing sound or a unique whistling noise when it takes off?
- Pay attention to behavior and habitat. Does it prefer to find food on the ground in open spaces?
Taking in all these observations can greatly aid in identifying the bird as a mourning dove.
10. Welcoming Mourning Doves to Your Backyard Haven
I love when mourning doves stop by my backyard. Their quiet presence and gentle coos craft a tranquil space. Here’s a fun way to sketch these lovely creatures:
- Provide a Source of Food: Set some seeds and grains out or fill a bird feeder with a special mix for mourning doves.
- Offer a Watering Hole: Mourning doves are drawn to fresh water in a birdbath, especially in warm weather.
- Create Nesting Sites: Mourning doves appreciate nest boxes. Strategically position a few in your garden to encourage them to start families there.
By providing these basic necessities, your backyard turns into a comfortable haven for mourning doves, becoming a regular stop for our feathered friends.
Mourning Dove vs. Other Backyard Birds
Here’s a table comparing how mourning doves are unique from usual backyard birds:
| Feature | Mourning Dove | Robin | House Finch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size | Medium | Medium | Small |
| Build | Slender | Round and plump | Stocky |
| Tail | Long and pointed with white tips | Short and rounded | Notched |
| Beak | Short and slender | Short and pointed | Thick and conical |
| Coloration | Tan or grayish-brown with spotted wings | Red breast, gray back, white belly | Reddish head and breast, brown streaking |
| Habitat | Open areas with scattered trees | Lawns, gardens, woodlands | Backyards, feeders, hedges |
| Diet | Seeds and grains | Worms, insects, fruits | Seeds, fruits, insectspen_spark |
Conclusion
If you spot a pretty, brown bird with a sad sound in your backyard – guess what, it’s a mourning dove! They’re easy to spot because of their unique shape, different tail, and peaceful sounds. This guide will help you recognize them without missing their quick visits. Birdwatching?
It’s all about learning, every day, every time. As you watch birds more closely and learn about them, you’ll start loving nature even more. It’s a world full of wonder, right at your doorstep. Ready? Grab your binoculars, step outside, and get ready for a fun journey of spotting and welcoming these peaceful birds, our mourning doves.
