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How to Tell How Old a Mourning Dove Is?

As with most birds, you cannot determine an adult mourning dove's age in years. You can only determine a general age of a mourning dove if it is a nestling or juvenile. Beyond that, birders refer to the adults as just that, adults. Since mourning doves often nest in patio pots and close to windows, you can often watch the babies grow and determine their age by looking at their physical characteristics and behavior as they grow into adulthood.

Instructions

- 1
  Look for any down or feathering on the baby dove in the nest. Newborn doves that are a week old or younger will be nearly naked and unable to stand up. At this age, they feed by placing their beak inside their parent's mouth to suck out what is termed "crop milk," a mix of regurgitated food and crop secretions, according to Gayle A. Soucek in "Doves."
- 2
  Watch for the parents to bring seed, insects and other plant matter to feed the chicks. At this stage, the babies will have obvious feather growth and be about 2 weeks old.
- 3
  Watch for the babies to fall out of the nest. This is the fledgling stage where they learn to feed themselves and fly. The mourning dove babies will be about 3 to 4 weeks old.
- 4
  Observe the morning dove groups. Mourning doves will have about five clutches in a single season, but older siblings may remain in the area for several more weeks. Mourning doves that are less than a year old but older than 4 weeks will have shorter tails than the adults and may still beg parents for food with what looks like a half week flap. At this age however, the parents often ignore these older children, as they are able to care for themselves.
- 5
  Look for adult characteristics, such as an overall brown color with dark brown to black spots on the wings and lower back. The tail of adults should be long, pointed and have a white tip. Mourning doves will attain their full adult plumage by the time they are 1 year old.

Animals & Science