A mourning dove takes flight as its partner looks on. These birds are generally monogamous and form strong pair bonds; so if one is seen, a partner is usually somewhere nearby. The mourning doves in these photographs did not disappoint.
Mourning Dove Takes Flight. Sunday Morning Photograph.
One of the mourning doves is seen leisurely bathing itself, lifting its wings and exposing its bright underside as the other mourning dove seems rather aloof while waiting patiently…
…but just after finishing its bathing ritual, this mourning dove suddenly takes flight — and yes, the other mourning dove in the background took off not long afterwards to follow its partner.
Final Boarding Call
Despite hunters harvesting greater than 20 million mourning doves every year, this species is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America with a population estimated at 350 million in the United States alone.
Mourning doves are not exactly the smartest birds. While I was relaxing one day, I once witnessed a pair of mourning doves building a nest in a pine tree high above the ground — or, at least, trying to build a nest. The male mourning dove would place a piece of straw in the unfinished nest — but the straw would eventually fall to the ground. The male mourning dove would sit there for a moment while the female stared at him as though he were incompetent. He would then fly to the ground nearby; pick up another piece of straw; fly back up to the unfinished nest; place that piece of straw — only to have it drop back down to the ground.
This went on repeating itself for at least 45 minutes.
Please click here for a complete list of the Sunday Morning Photograph series of articles at The Gate With Brian Cohen, which include photographs taken of nature and sights of interest in many countries and territories around the world — including but not limited to:
- Andorra
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Belarus
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- China
- Chile
- Colombia
- Cyprus — including the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
- Czechia or Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- England in Great Britain in the United Kingdom
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kenya
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malaysia
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Netherlands
- Oman
- Panama
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Singapore
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Swaziland or Eswatini
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- United States of America
- Uruguay
All photographs ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
