Attracting Mourning Doves to Your Backyard

Author: Meera, May 24, 2016

Despite its drab brown coloring with pink legs and round eyes, the Mourning Dove (also known as the Turtle Dove, Rain Dove, and the Carolina Turtledove) is one of the most easily recognized backyard birds in America.

 

 

 

The ladder is a tall one for picking cherries, but it works as a platform for a nest constructed by a pair of Mourning Doves

The ladder is a tall one for picking cherries, but it works as a platform for a nest constructed by a pair of Mourning Doves

 

 

 

We welcome them to the farmette with the lure of seeds, the type of food that makes up most of their diet. My hubby and I place seeds in low-hanging feeders or on the stone retaining wall. Sometimes, we even cast birdseed near the outer edge of the garden.

 

 

These birds also need a source of water. Because we keep chickens and bees, we have fountains running year-round. With an ample supply of food and water and plenty of fruit trees, tall grass, bamboo, and berry bushes for habitat, it’s no wonder the doves and other birds hang around here to mate in spring.

 

 

What surprises me is that one Mourning Dove couple has made a nest on top of the ladder I left out while picking some ripe cherries. The nest didn’t look too substantial, but I guess it works for them. I climbed up on a chair nearby to see the two white eggs after the dove left the nest. Within seconds, she dive bombed me and I nearly fell off the chair.

 

 

Mourning doves usually lay two eggs that are incubated by both parents, taking turns. In one spring season, they can repeat the process up to six times. This accounts for their population numbers staying strong in the face of being hunted for sport by humans and stalked as prey by other species. The baby doves are called squabs.

 

 

I love the lamenting call of these birds, often at sunset. I also appreciate that they are believed to mate for life. The squabs feed on crop milk–regurgitated secretions from the lining of the crop of the parents.

 

 

Attracting these doves into your backyard is easy if you put out a feeder and some seeds. For the July-August issue of GRAND online magazine, I’ve created a birdseed hanging saucer with directions so anyone can make it.  Ours has attracted several doves who forage for food morning and evening.

 

 

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If you enjoy reading about farmette life, check out my mystery novel series from Kensington Publishing, New York. The books feature a farmette milieu, farm sayings, tips, and facts about animals and bees as well as delicious recipes to try. The books are available from online sources such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and others as well as traditional bookstores everywhere.

 

 

 

First book in Meera Lester's Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries

 

 

BEELINE TO MURDER is the first book in Meera Lester’s Henny Penny Farmette series of mysteries.

 

 

Novel #2 in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available Oct. 1, 2016<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

 

 

 

 

Novel #2 in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available Oct. 1, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

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