Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura

This juvenile Mourning Dove, fresh from the nest, seems to have "adopted" us. It spends most of its time in the back yard and quite confidently perches on one of the chairs at the picnic table while we are sitting outside. Short of actually landing on us it displays no trepidation whatsoever and is often within less than an arm's length. We have noticed that it constantly scans the sky and we assume this is a hard wired behaviour as it checks for raptors. When feeding, however, it stops doing this, which leaves us to wonder whether we have become a surrogate sentinel. It spends most of the time within the confines of our property where it finds food, water and cover. It gives us great pleasure every day to have this close encounter with a wild creature.