[mou] Mourning Dove love

[Thomas Maiello]

Just had a delightful and intimate opportunity of watching two Mourning 
Doves pitching woo (can I say that?).  I was at my home office desk 
which looks out under the grapevine/bitter sweet arbor when I noticed 
two doves on the ground about 3 feet from my window.  My new Pentax 
10x50s let me focus within about 6 feet so I zoomed in as they turned to 
face each other - standing still but looking right into the face of the 
other - about 1 inch apart.  One dove was larger than the other and when 
the smaller began vibrating its feathers ("her" feathers I can say now) 
I thought it was a youngster in search of a food tidbit.  The smaller 
bird then began to use its bill to grab at the neck feathers of the 
larger bird (I can say "he" now). 

The male stood there and as the female levied a barrage of pecks to his 
neck, upper breast and around the base of his bill.  He took this for a 
while and then began doing about the same but in a much more aggressive 
manner, pulling at feathers immediately around the females eyes, the top 
of her head and again at the base of the her bill.  The female had to 
close her eyes to protect them from his onslaught - and then they 
paused.  She again began to vibrate her wings as the male looked away - 
seemingly.  Then she went back at his neck and head feathers - almost 
like kissing pecks.  He responded again with his more aggressive pecking. 

This tit-and-tat went on for several rounds until the female began 
getting a bit more aggressive after the lulls - then the male simple 
grabbed her bill with his.  Each time he would let it go she would go 
right back at it until he would grab her bill again.  The frequency of 
behavior increased, now with more frequent wing vibrating from the 
female, until the male turned a bit sideways, walking a bit to her 
left.  With one more shudder of wing vibration from the female, I guess 
the male had all of the right signs and leapt up and mounted her - her 
tail swung to one side with a flash of white underfeathers and in about 
2 seconds he jumped down and the two turned their backs to each other. 

They stood about 8 inches apart at a slight diagonal with just enough 
angle so they could keep track of the other with their 'side of the 
head' eyes  They stood this way for at least 5 minutes during which time 
the female did not move except to blink - but the male began to 
sporadically twitch his right wing which was on the side that the female 
could see, if she wanted to.  It seemed she simply stood their in 
feigned ignorance of his presence although I could tell she could keep 
track of him out of the corner of her eye.  More wing twitching.  More 
ignorance.  At least 5 full minutes - standing there back to back - the 
occasional twitch from the male. 

Finally the female began preening - on the side away from the male.  
Stopping and standing again but with her eyes closed.  The male begins 
mock preening - I think more to make motion than to actually preen 
something - and does the occasional wing twitch.  I guess he had to 
rustle a bit to circumvent the closed eyes of the female.  After about 
10 seconds, the male begins walking, pivoting in an arc away from the 
female.  The female finally opens her eyes (whew! - what trust for a 
bird!  I was getting nervous.) and turns her head away again from the 
male and preens.  The male stops about 4 inches from her and watches.  
The female stops preening and turns, erases the distance between them 
and begins pecking and pulling on his facial feathers once again.  The 
male quickly gets aggressive and goes for the feathers immediately 
around her eyes and the base of her bill.  It seemed like more of a 
dance this time.  This goes on for about 30 seconds and then the males 
waddles off toward the seeds at the base of the feeder.  The female 
stands there for a few moments watching him - more than a satisfied 
look, perhaps a "is that all there is", or a glint of admiration (oops - 
too many soap operas as a kid) and goes off looking for seeds.

This whole scene was so ridiculously similar to human interactions that 
I had to laugh.  The rituals, the ignoring to get attention, the 
switching aggression and dominance, the attention getting methods of 
both genders, and the almost 'rolling over and going to sleep' with the 
turned backs.  Delightful mourning (if you permit me to twist the 
spelling just a bit).  What a way to jump start my day!  And like the 
sands in an hour glass - so go the ....... (you know the rest).

Thomas Maiello
Spring Lake Park