Doves - A Valentine Symbol of Love and Peace

The cooing of doves along with their courting displays have made doves a symbol of love and peace.
 
 The two types of doves found mainly in our area are the mourning dove and the Inca dove.
 
 The mourning dove gets its name from its mournful coo. Mourning doves are about 12" in length. They are a sleek bird -gray-brown with long pointed tails and black dots on their wings. The male has a light gray crown and iridescent sides of its neck. The female is evenly brown on her head and neck. When they are in flight you can see the broadly white tipped shorter outer tail feathers. They are common at feeders, feeding mostly on the ground. They eat weeds, grass, grain seeds and some insects. From a perch at courting time the male does a conspicuous cooing in which he puffs out his throat and bobs his tail. When cooing on the ground in front of the female he repeatedly bows his head and gives a long coo. The pair makes a flat loose nest of twigs, grass, weeds, and pine needles placed in a vertical fork or horizontal branch of a tree. They usually have 2 white eggs.
 
 The Inca dove is small about 8" and it's dark-tipped feathers create a scalloped effect all over it's body, the tail is almost as long as the rest of it's body. When it is in flight you can see it's reddish-brown wing tips and it's long tail with white along the sides and corners. They are ground feeders eating weed seeds and grain. The make a Saucer like nest of twigs, sticks, grass and leaves which they place on horizontal limbs bushes or trees and sometimes in hanging baskets. They usually have 2 white eggs.
 
 Enjoy the peaceful sounds of our doves in Old Town Spring and Happy Valentine's Day.