Hobbies And Interests
Diet
Doves eat mostly seeds, grains and fruits. They forage on the ground and peck at what they can see. The rock dove or pigeon adapted to eating human garbage, although this is not the ideal food for birds. Rain crows mainly eat caterpillars and other insects, supplemented with some seeds and fruits. They feed mostly hidden in tree branches where insects abound.
Breeding
Doves form pair-bonds in order to raise chicks. Both the male and female cooperate to incubate the eggs and care for the chicks. Yellow-billed cuckoos sometimes employ a bizarre breeding strategy which is used far more frequently by other cuckoo species. They lay one egg in a nest of another species and let those birds raise their chick. The other bird parents are so driven by instinct to care for the chicks in their nests that they will feed and protect a chick that looks remarkably different than a chick of their own species. Foster parent species chosen by the yellow-billed cuckoo include the American robin, the black-billed cuckoo, the wood thrush and the grey catbird.
Calls
Dove calls sound like variations of cooing. Some species coo in repetitive patterns while some only call single coos. Rain doves also call out a single "coo," but only do so rarely. The usual call of the yellow-billed cuckoo sounds like a loud staccato "ka-ka-ka-kow-kowp-kowp-kowp-kowp." They seemed to call far more often on cloudy days, hence their nickname of "rain crow." However, there is no proof that rain crows call more often on cloudy days than sunny days, notes the Seattle Audubon Society.
Appearance
Dove heads, seen in profile, appear more domed with larger eyes than does a rain crow, which has a nearly flat-top head. The beak is long and straighter than doves, which tend to hook downwards. Rain crows have white bellies, while only some species of doves have white bellies and some species, like rock doves or pigeons, come in many color variations which include white or pale bellies, especially when domesticated pigeons breed with wild pigeons.