A lone Mourning Dove visited us and this is the only shot I got off before s/he flew away. If it's like other years, in the dead of winter we'll have a dozen or more all at the same time. At that point, I can be a bit more selective in backgrounds .... ;-)
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the oldest known Mourning Dove was 31 years 4 months old.
Thanks June! @june There's no direct reference to the history of their common name in the few sites I read, however the Cornell site mentioned that " Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments " so it's probably their voice that gives them 'mourning' in their name.
Great shot! We have only one pair of doves in our backyard. This past season they decided to build a nest in our eavestrough. Lucky we didn't get much rain and babies survived. Hopefully they won't repeat the location next year!
I think these are such beautiful birds. They look so gentle and sweet. When I read what you wrote about the background I went back for a second look and laughed out loud. Nice face on that tree!
Wow, that's quite a long life span! I love little facts like that, so thank you for sharing that. Mourning doves are so pretty; I never knew until they had such pretty blue eye liner until 365. :-)
