Mourning Dove (Carolina Dove, American Mourning Dove)

The Mourning Dove is a slender, medium-sized dove with a graceful long tail, small head, and soft grayish-brown plumage often highlighted with iridescent pinkish-bronze tones on the neck. Known for its mournful cooing vocalizations and swift, whistling flight, it is one of the most abundant and familiar birds across North America.

Muted grayish-blue to brownish-grey overall with subtle darker shading along the central shaft and a lighter pale grey edge

Pennaceous upper portion with tightly interlocked barbs and plumulaceous (fluffy) base with soft, unhooked barbs

Smooth, silky texture with a matte finish and a soft, fluffy downy base near the calamus

Soft grayish-blue and brown tones, slender pale rachis, rounded tip, and fluffy semiplume base typical of a columbid contour feather

Open country, scattered trees, farmyards, suburban areas, and prairie edges, avoiding dense unbroken forests

Widespread across North America, from southern Canada through the United States, Mexico, and into Central America

Important seed disperser and prey species for raptors and mammalian carnivores, serving as a key link in open-country food webs

Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) and Rock Pigeon (Columba livia); distinguished primarily by smaller size and specific subtle greyish-brown hue

Mourning doves are one of the few bird species that can drink water by suction without tilting their head back, and they produce crop milk to feed their altricial nestlings

Good condition with intact barbs, clean vanes, and no visible major wear, fading, or parasitic damage