March 19, 2023: Courting Doves

Mourning Doves are one of the most widespread of all birds, second only to the American Robin.  We've all seen them; they appear rather non-descript and I never paid them much attention until this week when some unusual behavior made me look more closely at them, and when you look closely, they really are rather elegant.

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

What caught my eye was two of them sitting side-by-side on a tree branch performing some kind of ritual where they were bobbing their heads up and down together with their beaks locked with each other's.  If they weren't so calm about it I would have thought they were fighting, but this clearly wasn't the case, so I referred to Stokes, A Guide to Bird Behavior, Volume II, which has a chapter on mourning doves, and I discovered these are quite fascinating birds, and ones that are easy to observe based on their numbers and frequent visits to bird feeders.  

A pair of courting mourning doves.

Mourning doves have a courting process that is both intricate and observable.  It usually starts with a male bird sitting on a perch, puffing out its chest feathers, and then giving a long, loud coo.  This auditory announcement of its availability is followed by a dramatic flight display where it flies up perhaps a hundred feet in the air and then spirals downward, soaring on fixed wings.  That should attract some attention.  I didn't see this behavior - it's possible the pair I'm watching has progressed beyond this stage, but I'll keep watching for it.  

Apparently what I saw the two birds doing occurs after they have already paired up and is a pre-copulation action called "billing".  According to Stokes, the female bird puts its beak in the male's beak and they bob their heads up and down together.  

Though I didn't capture that behavior, I did later see them exhibiting other mating behavior that I was able to video.  I believe the male is strutting and showing off to the female, both its plumage and its physical abilities with all the bobbing and preening.  

Male and female mourning doves are very similar in appearance, with the male having a slightly more reddish breast and a darker cap on its head.  A female's head is also somewhat rounder than a male's.  

At one point during the week there were two other doves in the area and there was some aggressive behavior related to defending territory and/or mates.  I'll be on the watch for more of these behaviors this spring as well.

Mr. and Mrs. mourning dove on a snowy morning.

Shortly after I posted last week's journal on otters I took a ski over to Lake Winnisquam, and to my surprise, I saw otters!  Where the stream that flows out of Wicwas enters into the northern tip of Winnisquam, the current entering the lake had opened up a large expanse of water.

Where the Wicwas Millbrook enters Lake Winnisquam.

And where open water met ice, two otters were having a great time.  I don't bring my camera when I'm skiing so all I had was my phone, and one of the rules of nature is to not approach wildlife close enough to disturb them, so this is the best picture I could get; it shows one them sticking its neck up, probably having detected my presence.

I read just this week something that might explain how otters can safely travel under the ice at this time of year.  According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, "In late winter, water levels usually drop below ice levels in frozen rivers and lakes, leaving a layer of air that allows river otters to travel and hunt under the ice."  I always wondered how they could dive under the ice and know they would be able find a place to surface before they ran out of air.

I watched the otters play for a while before I went on my way.  It was a beautiful day on the lakes.

There are more signs of spring's approach every day.  On Friday I saw my first migrating waterfowl of the year.

The first Canada goose, at the other end of the Millbrook, the dam at the outflow from Lake Wicwas.

And, you may remember the snowdrops had emerged back on February 12th.  Well those little plants are darn tough, because after being frozen, flooded, and buried in snow after they emerged, when the snowbank receded yesterday, they bloomed!

Snowdrops blooming behind the snowbanks on March 18.

Flowers blooming, birds courting, ice opening up - and two feet of fresh snow in the western part of the Lakes Region - all in the same week.  It's tug-of-war time in New Hampshire.

Spear Mountain in Danbury on March 15th.