Family: Columbidae
Pigeons and doves are stout bodied birds with short necks and bills and long tails. They are primarily seed eaters but will also eat fruits and plants.
I'm sharing some Eurasian Collared-Dove photos this morning. I've photographed them here in Arkansas before, but these are the first images I'm happy with.
I was thrilled two days ago to photograph my lifer Inca Dove in the yard of my friend and talented photographer, Steve Creek, in Arkansas. I was beyond excited.
Two days ago I shared a close photo of a curbside Mourning Dove. Today I am sharing a Eurasian Collared-Dove image taken at nearly the same time and same place.
On this chilly spring morning, I am sharing a curbside Mourning Dove that I photographed at one of my local parks three days ago, when it was warmer.
While I was sitting at my desk yesterday afternoon, when the sun was shining a bit, I heard one of the sounds of spring: Mourning Dove calls outside my window.
I'm sharing a few urban Mourning Dove photos this morning that I took close to home yesterday. It was in the upper 20s when I photographed this flock of doves.
Yesterday, I shared some Mourning Dove photos taken at Farmington Bay WMA. Today, my subject is a Eurasian Collared-Dove also photographed on the same day.
Yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA, the first bird I saw through my viewfinder was a male Mourning Dove perched on a boulder, bathed in soft, warm morning light.
Yesterday morning while photographing male Brewer's Blackbirds I took my eye away from my viewfinder and found a Eurasian Collared-Dove directly in front of me.
This morning I am sharing three simple Mourning Dove images that I took two days ago out in the sky island mountains of Utah's West Desert.
I had mere seconds to take this photo of a pair of Mourning Doves perched on lichen covered rocks on a desert cliff face in Box Elder County yesterday morning.
I photographed this Eurasian Collared-Dove last week at Farmington Bay and noticed that it didn't have the dark collar usually seen on this species.
Just a simple photo of a male Mourning Dove perched on an old wooden fence rail high in the Wasatch Mountains this morning.
Worldwide doves symbolize peace and I felt that I could use a little of that feeling this morning so I decided to share some Mourning Dove images I took two days ago in northern Utah.
Mourning Doves aren't flashy but I think they are handsome birds and that their calls are hauntingly beautiful.
When I first moved to Utah in 2009 I saw very few Eurasian Collared-Doves but now I see them in many locations and sometimes in large numbers.
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.
The juvenile and out of focus adult Mourning Doves were perched on a lichen encrusted, slightly frosted fence rail near the road in the southern part of the Centennial Valley.
I couldn't resist photographing this tiny Chipping Sparrow singing while perched on a "cedar" fence post with the sky and dark juniper behind it.
I'm keeping my daily post simple today, as simple as a Mourning Dove close up I photographed on Antelope Island last spring taken while it moved through the dew laden grasses.
Last month while looking for owls in northern Utah I found a mated pair of Mourning Doves resting side by side on a barbed wire fence.
The subdued beauty of Mourning Doves is often overlooked especially if there are more colorful birds around but for me their beauty is undeniable.
Yesterday I posted a juvenile Wilson's Phalarope and today I am posting an assortment of others birds I photographed the same day at Bear River NWR.
The heat of summer has turned the green grasses brown on Antelope Island State Park so I thought I'd share some of the "brown birds" I photographed there yesterday.
When I spotted this Mourning Dove perched on an old fence post in the morning light I couldn't resist photographing it.
These are but a few of the birds I photographed this week in various Utah locations and all of them made great subjects!
White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica) are one of the larger gray-colored dove species in North America and they are more at home in semi-arid and desert areas than Mourning Doves.
After I published my article titled Wild and Wonderful - Antelope Island - The Birds earlier this week I realized I didn't include any images of the doves found on the island so today I thought I would post a Mourning Dove.