Mourning doves are a common bird species found throughout North America. They are known for their soft, mournful cooing calls, which led to their name. Mourning doves build simple, fragile nests out of twigs, stems, and grasses. The female usually lays two white eggs. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs for about two weeks before they hatch. Then both parents work together to feed the hatchlings. But what exactly do baby mourning doves eat?
Parental Care
Baby mourning doves rely completely on their parents for food and protection in the first couple weeks after hatching. The parents take turns brooding the hatchlings to keep them warm. They also forage for food to bring back to the nest multiple times a day. Parent mourning doves produce a special type of milk in their crop known as crop milk to feed their young.
Crop Milk
Crop milk is a secretion high in fat and protein produced in the crop of parent doves and pigeons. The crop is an enlarged portion of the esophagus used for food storage prior to digestion. Crop milk is regurgitated directly into the mouths of the hatchlings. It provides them with the nutrients and antibodies they need for growth and development. Crop milk is the sole source of nutrition for baby doves in the first 3-4 days after hatching.
Foraging
Once the hatchlings are 3-4 days old, the parent doves start supplementing crop milk feedings with whole seeds and insects foraged from the environment. Seeds make up the bulk of an adult mourning dove’s diet. Some common seeds eaten by mourning doves include:
- Millet
- Sorghum
- Corn
- Wheat
- Soybean
- Sunflower
The parent doves swallow these seeds whole, storing them in their crop. They then regurgitate the seeds one at a time directly into the hatchling’s mouth. This softens the shell and makes the seed easier for the young dove to digest.
In addition to seeds, parent doves also forage for insects and bugs to feed their hatchlings. Insects provide baby doves with important protein for growth. Some common insects fed to baby mourning doves include:
- Crickets
- Grasshoppers
- Caterpillars
- Beetles
- Ants
- Aphids
The mourning dove’s diet of both seeds and insects provides hatchlings with a nutritious mix of carbohydrates and protein.
When do mourning dove hatchlings leave the nest?
Baby mourning doves grow and develop quickly under the constant care and feeding of their parents. They are ready to leave the nest at around 11-15 days old. The hatchlings will appear fully feathered and active in the nest at this age.
Parent doves taper off crop milk feedings as the hatchlings grow. By the time they leave the nest, crop milk makes up only a small portion of their diet. The parents continue to supply regurgitated seeds and foraged insects into the hatchling’s mouth up until fledging.
Fledging
Fledging is the stage when baby birds leave the nest and start flying. For mourning doves, fledging occurs between 11-15 days after hatching. The parent doves gradually reduce feedings as the hatchling’s flight feathers grow in. This encourages the young dove to venture out of the nest in search of food.
On their first flights, fledgling doves are clumsy and just flutter down to the ground. But they quickly gain flight skills and start following their parents to forage. The parents still continue to feed and protect the fledglings for several days as they master flying and eating on their own.
When do mourning doves reach full independence?
After leaving the nest, baby mourning doves stick close by their parents for 3-4 weeks as they learn to survive independently. This is called the post-fledging period. The fledglings follow their parents around to learn important foraging skills during this time.
Parent doves gradually wean off direct mouth-to-beak feedings over the course of a week or two. This motivates the fledglings to start finding and eating seeds on their own. However, the parents still provide some supplemental feedings as needed.
By 3-4 weeks post-fledging, the juvenile doves have mastered self-feeding. They appear identical to adults in size and feathering. At this point, the young birds are fully independent and go off on their own. Now wild adult mourning doves live around 2-6 years on average.
Mourning dove feeding habits
Once independent, juvenile mourning doves exhibit the same feeding behaviors as adult doves. Here is an overview of how mourning doves find and consume food:
Foraging
Mourning doves spend a lot of time foraging on the ground for seeds and grains. They walk along pecking and scratching at the soil searching for preferred seeds. Their strong beaks allow them to crack hard coatings and shells open.
Doves have high metabolic rates and need to eat frequently. They fill their crops with seeds and grains quickly, then digest them later. Mourning doves especially like foraging along the edges of woods and roads where seeds collect in the open dirt.
In addition to seeds, mourning doves supplement their diet with insects, especially in spring and summer. They capture insects like grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars while walking along the ground. They sometimes eat snails or millipedes as well.
Drinking
Mourning doves get most of the water they need from the seeds they eat. But they will visit open water sources like bird baths and puddles to drink on hot days or when dehydrated. They suck up water without lifting or tipping their heads like other birds.
Gizzard
A mourning dove’s digestive system is uniquely adapted for its granivorous diet. After seeds pass through the crop, they reach the gizzard. The gizzard is a muscular pouch that acts as a grinding mill. The dove swallows small stones and grit that collect in the gizzard to help mash up food.
Powerful contractions of the gizzard break down tough seed coatings. This allows digestive enzymes and acids to access the digestible seed interior and absorb nutrients. The gizzard processes food in about 6-8 hours on average.
Common habitat and range
Mourning doves can be found year-round across most of the lower 48 United States. They also range into Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Here is a map of their range:
Mourning doves occupy a wide variety of open and semi-open habitats within their large range. They readily adapt to diverse environments. Some typical habitats include:
- Forest edges
- Farmlands
- Grasslands
- Backyards
- Parks
- Desert scrub
The key requirements are open ground or sparse vegetation for foraging, nearby trees for nesting and roosting, and a source of drinking water. Mourning doves are found in both rural and urbanized areas as long as their habitat needs are met.
Unique adaptations
Mourning doves exhibit some remarkable adaptations that aid their survival:
- Crop milk – Both male and female mourning doves produce this special secretion in their crop to feed newly hatched chicks.
- Fledging – Mourning dove hatchlings develop rapidly and leave the nest earlier than most other birds (11-15 days after hatching).
- Flocking – During fall and winter, mourning doves form large nomadic flocks of thousands of birds that forage together.
- Gizzard – Their muscular gizzard helps mourning doves grind and digest hard seeds that make up the bulk of their diet.
- Water sucking – Mourning doves can suck up water without lifting or tipping the head, allowing them to drink efficiently from small puddles.
These special traits allow mourning doves to thrive across diverse habitats and raise multiple broods per year.
Conclusion
In summary, baby mourning doves rely completely on regurgitated crop milk and foraged seeds and insects provided by both parents in their first couple weeks of life. At 11-15 days old, the chicks leave the nest and become fledglings. But they still depend on supplemental feedings from the parents for another 3-4 weeks as they learn to self-feed. Once able to fly proficiently and forage independently, juvenile doves reach full independence. Their diet then consists of a variety of seeds, grains, and insects, just like adult mourning doves. Special adaptations like crop milk and an efficient gizzard allow mourning doves to thrive across North America.
