Most songbirds are nervous creatures, flitting among the shrubs and trees as they search for food, ever wary of the predators that stalk them from the ground or sky. A striking exception is the mourning dove, our placid, long-tailed neighbor with the melancholy song.
A common resident throughout the U.S. and southern Canada, smaller populations are found as far north as southern Alaska. Though they leave northern sections of their range during the colder months, these doves are hardy, managing to survive the winter on weed seeds and waste grain. Their soft, sad tune is heard by mid March and they are one of the earlier songbirds to nest, usually constructing a crude platform of sticks and straw on a low branch, window sill or directly on the ground. At least two broods are raised in the course of the spring and summer; their young, unlike the squawking, demanding offspring of many species, sit patiently on a tree limb, waiting for mom or dad to arrive with a meal of regurgitated seeds.
Common at backyard feeders, mourning doves lounge contentedly on nearby branches as other songbirds zip back and forth, chasing one another from the feeder perch. Now and then, they will drop to the ground, searching for morsels scattered by the frenzied mob. Despite their mellow nature, they are capable of very rapid flight and are legally hunted in a number of States.
