This bird was named for its sweet, mournful song. It has the longest breeding season of any North American bird, regularly producing three broods, and up to six, per year. The eggs are diligently covered, by the male during most of the day, and the female for the remainder of the day and the night. The crop milk is produced and fed by both parents, but the males produce this 'milk' for up to a week longer than the females.

Length: 26.6 to 30.5 cm

Physical characteristics: This is a slender dove, with a thin neck, a long, pointed tail and a curved, dark bill. Overall, the bird is a gray-brown, with the head, throat, breast and belly more of a pinkish-brown. There are large dark spots on the wings. The wings produce a whistling sound when the bird takes off. Sexes are similar.

Voice: Song is a soft, somewhat mournful cooing.

Breeding habitat:
The Mourning Dove has shown great adaptability in its habitat preferences. It is not usually seen in heavily forested areas, but can be found at forest edges and open woodlands, in areas of agriculture and in cities, towns and suburbs.

Mating system:
Monogamous, a pair bond may last past the breeding season. A breeding pair typically has 2 - 3 broods, but may produce up to six broods per season.

Nest:
The male inspects nesting sites (usually in various trees and shrubs, but occasionally on the ground) and calls to the female to see if she approves. Several sites may be scrutinized. Once a suitable site is found, the female sits at the nesting site and the male delivers nesting material to her while standing on her back. She then arranges the materials around herself. The nest is a flimsy saucer shape constructed of twigs, grass stems and pine needles and lined with finer materials.

Eggs:
A clutch consists of 2 - 3 eggs - most often two. The eggs are white and unmarked. 28mm (1.1 in.).

Chick development:
The chicks (called squabs) are hatched altricial after 14 days of incubation by both the male and female (although neither parent develops a brood patch). Both sexes brood as well. The chicks fledge 12 to 14 days after hatching. The male takes over the care of the fledglings while the female starts on another clutch.

Diet:
Seeds make up the greatest percentage of the Mourning Dove diet. This bird prefers agricultural grains, such as corn, wheat, sorghum and millet, and the seeds of a variety of grasses and weeds. It will also eat a small amount of fruit and insects. It forages almost entirely on the ground and will readily come to feeders. The nestlings are fed 'crop milk' for the first few days of life; it is secreted by the crop lining of both parents, and fed by regurgitation.

Conservation Biology:
The Mourning Dove is a very common and abundant bird. It has adapted well to, and has even benefited by, human habitation. It is considered a game bird and is hunted in large numbers, but its populations seem to recover quickly.

This bird is a rare host to the cowbird.

Breeding: The Mourning Dove occupies the southern half of Canada, most of the continental United States and the interior of Mexico.

Winter: This bird is considered to be a short-distance migrant, wintering throughout its breeding range (except for central Canada and the north-central United States) and south into Central America.

The Mourning Dove is a fairly common year-round resident bird in the Park. This species is most likely to be observed at Cades Cove and at low elevation near the park perimeter. A survey of breeding birds in the park, performed from 1996-1999, ranked Mourning Dove as the 49th most commonly observed species out of 113 species detected during the breeding season. Estimates from this survey indicate that overall Mourning Dove density in the park during the breeding season is approximately 0.0045 pairs/hectare.

References:

Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. Mourning Dove, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.

Mirarchi, R. E., and T. S. Baskett. 1994. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). In The Birds of North America, No. 117 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists? Union.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.