Talk:Mourning Dove

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Mourning Dove article.
Article policies
Featured article star Mourning Dove is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do.
Main Page trophy This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on July 12, 2007.

Contents

[edit] Common in Wisconsin

Nestlings and mother Mourning Dove
Nestlings and mother Mourning Dove

Mourning Doves are common in Wisconsin. When they come back next spring I will get a picture of their tails. They like to nest on our front porch. This was the 3rd set of babies that the mother had in that nest this summer. They take about a week to hatch and fly away. Ancheta Wis 07:35, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Nice photo. Maurreen 06:10, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

There are lots of these in Afghanistan and they are called "Moseecha."

[edit] Mourning Doves wintering with us

We have 5 of these guys wintering with us here in Western Canada. We built a little ground cote for them to feed in, and keep the wild turkeys from their food. Lyndalailarma 21:45, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abandoned egg?

I recently aided a pair of Dove's in building a nest. Within 24 hours the female laid an egg and I have not seen the pair return to the nest since I saw the egg early in the morning. This is the second day and still no parents????? Is this common practice or have the parents abandoned the egg permanently? Will the egg survive now? What should I do. I have not touched the nest or the egg. It is on my patio. Any info would be appreciated.

My email is hilljean@sbcglobal.net

my experience is that the bird gets alarmed easily. Just let it alone. The mother may return. The mother lays several sets of per year, and it takes a week to hatch them; then they all fly away. --Ancheta Wis 00:24, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Zenaidura macroura or Zenaida macroura

Is Zenaidura macroura or Zenaida macroura the current scientific name for the Mourning Dove? A German-language website that I was reading gives the following information for the Mourning Dove (Trauertaube, Carolinataube): "Carolinataube Zenaidura macroura - früher: Zenaida macroura" [translation: Carolina Dove Zenaidura macroura - formerly: Zenaida macroura] (http://www.vzi.de/p/z2/taubcar.htm). I have also read that the "Eastern Mourning Dove" has the scientific name Zenaidura macroura carolinensis. Is there a dispute about the scientific nomenclature for the Mourning Dove among taxonomists? Does anyone know? If taxonomists have changed the scientific name, then this change ought also to be made in the Wikipedia article on the Mourning Dove. Hans-Friedrich Tamke 03:47, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America uses Zenaida as the genus for Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura) and Zenaida Doves (Zenaida aurita). --Evice 02:25, 7 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Symbol of Peace

Mourning doves are also Michigan's symbol of peace...there is a cite here in the last bullet point near the bottom of the page: http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061012/OPINION01/610120334/1120

I believe it is a different kind of dove, not the morning dove which is why there was a debate on whether it should be hunted as it is now. It isnt the morning dove, but i dont have a website to back that up at the moment.

[edit] Strong fliers

Are mourning doves strong fliers compared to other doves, or are they strong fliers like other doves? KP Botany 01:23, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure I agree with "strong flyers" as a descriptive term for Mourning Doves in any context. In my experience, they tend to be pretty ungainly and clumsy in flight. They may be strong in terms of speed in open air, but in woods and close cover they're about the least agile birds of their size that I've seen. Blue Jays and Woodpeckers for example (similar-sized birds) are much more nimble. 'Card 19:49, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
I dunno bout that, They fly pretty fast up here in Michigan, and thy go right through some trees... 64.68.243.229 22:47, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
Strong flier= Fast fliers. 88 km/h is pretty fast for a dove. They always outfly hawks (which are sluggish, I know. I dunno about nimble because there aren't any forests where I live.--~PogoNoodle~ (talk) 22:53, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] sound

what the hell is that "hee-hee-hee-hee" sound they make when they flap their wings/fly

I dunno why this happens, but when they fly, their wings have an odd "whistling sound. --~PogoNoodle~ (talk) 22:46, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
I don't think the wings produce this sound. Wing flapping might trigger the sound, but the actual sound could be produced by the vocal cords (like a tennis player grunting when swinging his arm). The reason I doubt the sound is produced by feather vibration is because it happens only in low-speed flight, when feathers could not possibly vibrate fast enough to produce a sound. Also, if feathers produce this sound, you'd expect more birds to produce similar sounds when they fly. I read somewhere that mourning doves make this noise at takeoff to alert other doves to danger. This also can't be true, because the same sound is produced both at takeoff and landing, even when building a nest calmly. Jarir (talk) 22:01, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Clearer pic of nesting?

I took a pic of a mourning dove nesting today and uploaded it to Commons. It seems less blurrier than the one on the article right now, but I don't know if I should replace it (since it looks like the current photos are in a set). If you guys wanna use it, by all means... -→Buchanan-Hermit™/?! 16:59, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Semi-Protection?

I don't know about what you guys think, but this article seems to be getting a lot of vandalism from anon people, and registered Wikipedia users. If we can reach a consensus here, I'll go ask for the Semi-protection. Elenseel 03:41, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. I thought that Featured-Articles-Of-The-Day were always semi-protected. --joe056

Usually it is bad to semi-protect because FAOD get a lot of improvement from anon IPs while on the main page.--Kungfu Adam (talk) 13:55, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, refer to Wikipedia:Main Page featured article protection. FAOD articles are only semi-protected when the vandalism rate is excessively high. Semi-protection is rarely done. Full protection is "prohibited". --Richard 14:56, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

I was wondering what the heck was going on. Thought it was a rash of pigeon haters. Looks like all vandalism has been done by IPs, and all IPs have been vandals so far. Semi-protect would appear to be a good idea. Notmyrealname 18:08, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
It'll be over tomorrow. Bendž|Ť 19:55, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
Okey-doke. Seems to have slowed down now anyway. Notmyrealname 19:58, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
Schools and jails are finishing for the day I guess :). Anyways, enjoy all the attention while it lasts :) Cheers! --Tom 19:59, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
So what exactly qualifies as "excessively high" vandalism? Several hundred edits, half of which were reverts getting rid of the rubbish put in by anonymous IPs sounds "excessively high" to me! Of all the anonymous IP contributions, only 3-4 were good edits—hardly the "lot of improvement" Kungfu Adam suggested might happen! MeegsC | Talk 20:33, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

I think that it would be beneficial to include the etymology of the scientific name, especially considering this is a featured article. Anyone have any information? Djlayton4 | talk | contribs 18:55, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Both parts are Greek. Zenaida is a girl's name literally meaning "born of Zeus" (similar to Zenobia) but recently "white-winged dove", and macro-ura means big-tail. I don't have solid sources though. Bendž|Ť 19:51, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

I've found one for the specific name. Bendž|Ť 20:26, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
Egg number 11 is Dove, Zenaida
Egg number 11 is Dove, Zenaida

The painting is from New International Encyclopedia.

  • 1. Pintail duck
  • 2. Petrel, stormy
  • 3. Darter
  • 4. Rail
  • 5. Night heron
  • 6. Partridge, Gambel's
  • 7. Phalarope, Wilson's
  • 8. Ibis, white
  • 9. Sandpiper, spotted
  • 10. Coot
  • 11. Dove, Zenaida
  • 12. Ptarmigan, willow
  • 13. Kildeer (plover)
  • 14. Bittern, American
  • 15. Tern, Arctic


[edit] Call

To me their call sounds like "ooOOoo...oo, oo. 67.188.172.165 04:16, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Velocicaptor 22:52, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Missing mate it may have been killed?!

These two doves were regular visitors to my yard in Spokane, Washington. Now one is missing. One dove is just perching in my Cherry tree. Not much movement. Will they find a new mate or will this one die too? Dick —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spokane-land (talk • contribs) 04:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

As it says in the article, Mourning Doves have an extremely high mortality rate - primarily because they're fat, slow, not particularly bright, and (presumably) quite tasty. I know in my area the hawks love 'em. On the upside, they breed a bunch, so you know... live fast, die young, etc. I wouldn't worry too much about the lone bird in your yard. From what I've seen, they don't spend much time alone. - Ken Thomas (talk) 10:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
Of course, the other possibility is that the "missing" bird is actually sitting on a nest somewhere in or near your cherry tree. Mates will often sit quietly in the general vicinity of the nest, while their partner is sitting on eggs. MeegsC | Talk 11:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
MeegsC makes a valid (and much less morbid) point. After all, 'tis the season to be sitting on eggs. I wouldn't go poking around looking for the nest too much though, if I were you. While doves have never struck me as being terribly sensitive to nest disturbance, they are easily startled, and if Momma is sitting on some young'uns, you don't want to rattle her too much. - Ken Thomas (talk) 00:46, 25 April 2008 (UTC)