[mou] Mourning Dove love

[Laura Erickson]

If you want to read a hilarious and shockingly scientific account of Great
Horned Owl romance, with a clear and closely-viewed description of what
the female owl's "cloacal kiss" looks like, make sure you check out Karla
Kinstler's wonderful blog about her education owl Alice--especially the
entry, "Cloacal Kiss," at:

http://owlstuff.com/2006/03/cloacal-kiss.html

Laura Erickson
Duluth, MN

Staff Ornithologist
Binoculars.com
www.birderblog.com

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. 
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of
nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the
winter.

			--Rachel Carson


> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> mou-net mailing list
> mou-net@cbs.umn.edu
> http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net
>