mourning dove

I have three pair of these calm beauties that regularly visit my feeders. Well, underneath my feeders!

The male on the left was really puffing up and showing off for the female but she was playing hard to get. Got this one through the window and just a few feet away.

Or maybe more correctly, breakfast then bed? This mourning dove ate its fill, then just flumped down and relaxed on the feeder for a while. Eating, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it!

One mourning dove kept parading around in front of another with a twig in its beak. A subtle hint it's nest building time maybe? lol

These two mourning doves found a pretty place to indulge in some spring time smooching.

A mourning dove and a blue jay having a quiet talk about inter-species cooperation at the feeders. lol.

A mourning dove found a nice place to sleep off lunch.

A mourning dove and a chickadee discuss the cuisine at the feeder.

This dove took off straight up when a blue jay swooped in and startled it. The snowy background is over exposed, but even so I like how this turned out.

Mourning doves are so numerous around here. It's not unusual for me to look out the window and see a couple dozen perched in the trees waiting for me to fill the feeders. They can go through a ton of seeds and it gets annoying. With that going on, it's easy to forget how graceful and beautiful a...

When a mourning dove is coming in for a landing, it can look positively angelic. When they start hoovering up the seeds though, they turn annoying. lol

The MODO's are frequent visitors to the backyard and I sometimes refer to them as "squirrels with wings" because when they come to the feeders they park themselves and eat and eat and eat.... But they are really quite a beautiful bird if you catch them in the right light.

The objective: To keep larger birds like blue jays and starlings and especially Mourning Doves away so as to keep them from eating all the seeds and give a chance to let small birds feed. The Plan: Put up small and flimsy feeders. Too small and flimsy to let the larger birds perch on them and...

This sleepy little sun drenched dove is about to get a rude wake up call. For the first time since 1955 hunters will be able to hunt Mourning Doves from early September to mid November in Ontario. Unfortunately this dove along with many of its kind are very soon going to be able to live up to...

I try to keep a pan of water near the feeders for the birds to drink from. We've had very cold weather and it froze solid, but we noticed some birds pecking around on the ice as if trying to take a drink. So I went out and dumped the ice out and put fresh water in. Of course it started to freeze...

A mourning dove trying to keep an eye on me through frost encrusted branches. I thought this might be my last photo here for quite some time, as not long after I took this my camera failed. I was trying to zoom in on another bird when out of nowhere the camera just shut off with the lens still...

Shot through a window. With the Christmas business there's not much chance to look for photo opportunities. And there's not much around the yard except for chickadees, goldfinches, the odd nuthatch, and the almost ubiquitous mourning dove. A pretty bird, but kind of boring. lol This morning I...

A mourning dove calmly perched in an ash tree on a very foggy morning makes for a bit of an avian apparition.

Mourning Dove (male, I think) during our first snow storm yesterday. These guys have been taking over my feeders, bullying other birds, and just really testing my patience lately, but they do make great models! ;)