Over the years, Mourning doves, Zenaida macroura, have nested on the light fixtures above the nature center front and back doors. Compared to other birds we've observed, like American Robins, Mourning Doves don't seem to have very good nesting skills! Their nests are often quite flimsy. According to the All About Birds website, male doves carry twigs to the females so she can weave them into a 8" nest or they may reuse another bird's nest. You may notice long strands of vegetation hanging down from the nest site as they construct their messy nests.

To be fair, each dove duo may raise numerous broods, or generations of young, each year, so they are busy parents. In warmer climates they may raise up to six broods per year, which is more than any other bird. Each brood usually consists of only 2 eggs/babies. Both parents take turns feeding the young "crop milk", a rich liquid that's high in fat and protein and is created in their crop, or throat pouch. This is the only food the young doves eat while in the nest. At about 2 weeks old, they transition out of the nest, and begin eating seeds. Their parents continue to care for their fledglings for another week or two.

Our native Mourning doves are well adapted to live in almost any habitat, including numerous types of human environments, and are found across the U.S. You may be most familiar with their "mournful" cooing call or have seen them on the ground under bird feeders. An adult's diet consists almost entirely of seeds with an occasional slug or snail. To help digest the seeds, doves regularly swallow gravel, which they store in their crop (the same muscular pouch in their esophagus that produces crop milk).

Closely related to doves, the non-native pigeons found throughout our big cities, also feed their young "crop milk" and were brought to North America from Europe in the 1600s. These domesticated birds escaped captivity and are now living as feral populations (returned to living in the wild). Pigeon domestication probably dates back 5,000 years or more, and throughout history pigeons were used for food, sport and messengers.

With over 344 species of doves and pigeons world-wide, the Columbidae family also includes the extinct Dodo bird!