Mourning Dove

Zenaida macroura

The cooing of Mourning Doves can be heard in spring and summer throughout Missouri towns, cities and countryside. They nest primarily at forest edges, farm groves, suburban yards and city parks. In areas with few trees, they will sometimes nest directly on the ground. During late summer and early fall, flocks of thousands congregate in fields to feed on waste grain and sunflower (Helianthus spp.) seeds.

Code Frequency

Mourning Doves are easy to detect. Recorded in 1186 blocks, the species was the Atlas Project's fourth most-commonly recorded bird. Atlasers recorded it in only 16 fewer blocks than the most widely recorded species, the Northern Cardinal. Mourning Doves and their nests are easily observed with minimal effort. Although they likely bred in most blocks where found, they were apparently present in low numbers where recorded only as possible breeders.

Distribution

Mourning Doves were found statewide. The only definitive distributional pattern that emerged was the lack of higher nesting evidence from the more forested parts of the state. Fewer confirmations in the Ozark Natural Division were perhaps due to that region's lack of forest edge and open grasslands and the greater difficulty of

Average Number of Birds / 100 stops

Abundance

The greatest abundances were recorded in the Big Rivers, Osage Plains, Glaciated Plains and Mississippi Lowlands natural divisions. The Ozark and Ozark Border natural divisions had less than half as many birds per route, perhaps due to greater forest cover in these sections. This species generally avoids heavily-forested regions (Mirarchi and Baskett 1994). Abundance values suggest roadside point counts can be useful in monitoring population trends in this species. In Missouri, both point and transect counts are conducted by the Conservation Department to determine Mourning Dove relative abundance levels.

Phenology

This species nests from late March through early September (Hallett 1990). Although nests have been observed into mid-October, most atlasing was completed by this date. Due to the ability of Mourning Doves to raise 2-6 broods a season (Ehrlich et al. 1988), an abundance of young birds is often observed during late summer.

Notes

Only one record of Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism was documented out of the 119 nests that were observed with Eggs: or young. Mourning Doves are considered rare hosts of Brown-headed Cowbirds (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Breeding Evidence

Reported in 1,180 (97.8%) of 1,207 blocks

Home|Lists of Illustrations and Tables|Preface|Acknowledgments|Introduction|The Natural Divisions of Missouri|Guide to Species Accounts|Index of Bird Accounts|Appendix A.|Appendix B.|Appendix C.|Appendix D.|Appendix E.|Literature Cited