Scientific Name: Zenaida macroura

Residency: Year-round resident throughout Arizona, although Morning Doves have been known to migrate to South/Central America during the winter.

Diet: Feasts upon grain, seeds and fruit. Young are fed ?pigeon milk,? a liquid substance created by their parents by grinding up seeds and grains in their mouths, and then regurgitating it back into the mouths of the young.

Predators: Adults and young are heavily preyed on by raptors (mostly falcons and accipters), mammals (especially raccoons, domestic cats and dogs), and some snakes.

Nesting: Builds simple platform nests from soft twigs, in which both the male and female incubates the eggs. This species is known to nest in buckhorn cholla cacti and velvet mesquite trees.

Nesting Records:  Brown's Ranch, Coon Bluff, Scottsdale Community College.

Notes: Though this species is the most widely hunted game bird in all of North America, the mourning dove seems to be maintaining its population, probably due to its ability to adapt to nearly any habitat, from farm yards, to prairies, to woodlands or suburban parks - and of course, to deserts.

Photo: Taken at Scottsdale Community College (unknown date). For more photos, click on camera icon.