While we have plenty of Eurasian Collared-Doves around Morning Bray Farm, I’m pretty sure this is a Mourning Dove.

She’s beautiful.

I just love how the rings of feathers around her eyes are the color of the sky.

The interesting facts from whatbird.com:

  • The oldest documented wild Mourning Dove was 19.3 years old. The average lifespan of wild birds is 1.5 years.
  • It is a game bird; and in many states, habitat is created with the specific purpose to hunt birds.
  • Both males and females secrete a substance from their crop that is high in protein and fat. Called crop milk or pigeon milk, it resembles and smells like cottage cheese and is fed to young birds.
  • A group of doves has many collective nouns, including a “bevy”, “cote”, “dole”, “dule”, and “flight” of doves.

1/13/2011

Note: Whoops! Turns out she isn’t a Mourning Dove after all. She’s a White-winged Dove. Thank you CeeCee!

The interesting facts on White-winged Doves from whatbird.com:

  • Although the White-winged Dove is most commonly found in Arizona and the southwest, its range is expanding nation-wide and into parts of Canada.
  • In Florida breeding occurs only in introduced populations.