Immature Mourning Dove at a pumpkin patch – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
It might seem a little late in the year to see immature Mourning Doves but it probably isn’t because Mourning Doves can have as many as six broods per year. These doves start nesting early in the spring and continue having more broods until around October.
I photographed this immature Mourning Dove yesterday morning at the Pack Farms Pumpkin Patch which is just across the road from Glover Pond and the new nature center at Farmington Bay. The orange color in the background is from pumpkins laying on the ground behind the bird and the young dove is resting on irrigation equipment.
The young Mourning Dove still has some visible scaling on some of its feathers which is a lighter colored fringing at the tips of those feathers, adults do not show that scaling effect.
I’ve photographed other birds in front of the pumpkins at this patch before and for some reason it tickles me to have the orange color of the pumpkins in the background of my photos taken there.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Mourning Dove photos plus facts and information about this species.
Six broods a year? Wow.
Except for the “mean mourning dove”, who used to almost jump onto other birds to indimidate them and who had no apparent mate, the mourning doves at our feeder have been gentle creatures, often the luckless prey of hawks…mostly Cooper’s…(I think)…
That is what I was thinking about all the nesting. It is good to hear, as I have the banded or collar doves around my place and the nests get knocked out of my pine trees when there is a high wind. I found two eggs earlier this spring on the ground. I sure like them better than pigeons. Cute picture, and hear camping in Montana next year may happen in a new camper.
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Six broods? Good grief. I love this photo.