How to Find and Identify Mourning Doves

Observe your bird feeders, but also look below them and on the ground. Mourning doves feed on the ground almost exclusively, looking for seeds. At bird feeders they will collect in small groups and happily eat whatever seeds are available. Although some will head south for the winter, others will stick it out. The deep snow makes it hard for them to find food, making homes that provide bird feeders a welcome haven in the colder times.

Watch the telephone wires for mourning doves. Their silhouette is easy to spot even from a distance. Mourning doves will sit alone or in pairs on the telephone lines and then fly off if they are startled. There is almost no habitat that the mourning dove does not like. It can be found in the rural areas of the country, deserts, cities, farmlands and on the edges of forests.

Listen for the sound of furiously whirring wings when a mourning dove takes flight. They make quite a bit of noise and can be readily heard from down below, even as the dove flies away from you. They can fly as fast as 55 miles per hour and are very difficult for hunters to hit. Despite this, more than 70 million mourning doves are shot each year by hunters for sport and for their meat. The ability to have many broods of chicks each year allows them to keep their numbers level and even increasing.

Find them by following their sad song. The mourning dove’s call is a “coo coo coo”--a very doleful sound. This is the origin of their name.

Look for a plump bird that is grayish brown. The mourning dove has a long tail and a smallish head. It has a small ring of light skin around the eyes. You will see black spots on the wings and the male mourning dove can be distinguished from the female by bright purple and pink patches on the sides of the neck and a bluish-hued crown on the head.