Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
About the Mourning Dove
The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, and colloquially as the turtle dove, and it was once known as the Carolina pigeon and Carolina turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread North American birds and a popular gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure is due to its prolific breeding; in warm areas, one pair may raise up to six broods of two young each in a single year. The wings make an unusual whistling sound upon take-off and landing, a form of sonation. The bird is a strong flier, capable of speeds up to 88 km/h (55 mph).
A real field recording of the Mourning Dove. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
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Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
2 recordings on this page · licensed CC BY-SA ×1 · Public Domain / CC0 ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in Canada, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States · xeno-canto lists 234 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- Eared DoveZenaida auriculatarecording
- West Peruvian DoveZenaida melodaprofile
- White-winged DoveZenaida asiaticaprofile
- Zenaida DoveZenaida auritaprofile
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.