Slowly, over the past several years, mourning doves just seem to be moving in. They have probably always been around, but I sure don’t remember seeing them in such numbers years ago. In fact, in was a rare occurrence to spot a mourning dove. Once in a while, while on a family outing, you may spot one along side the highway. Now, they seem to be everywhere.
There’s probably a good reason. They know they’re safe here. While in many parts of North America the mourning dove is considered a game bird, in Nova Scotia they are a song bird. So they don’t get hunted around here like they do in many areas. They are considered a very popular game bird and maybe they have adapted to being hunted by having lots of little mourning doves, which they do.
They can apparently have up to six broods a year, which can add up to a lot of little doves wandering around your yard.
I’m not sure what niche it is they are filling around here, but they seem to have sound one that fits, because mourning doves seem to be everywhere.
Their call, while soothing, can get to be a bit annoying after a while. But the big question I have is why do they squeak when they fly? That’s the part that drives me nuts. There a re plenty of them around, and they tend to spook easily. And when they fly off, they all make noise.
For a while I was thinking maybe it was a mechanical thing. Perhaps mourning doves were in bad need of lubrication. Maybe a little squirt of WD 40 or a drop of oil on the wings would cure that?
So far, I have not been able to get close enough to one to try lubrication to see if it works.
It probably won’t. It’s really something to do with their wing feathers and acts as an alarm for others around them. Although I’m not entirely convinced it wouldn’t work.
But since they seem to be everywhere these days, maybe we can work on that.
So if you see anyone trying to sneak up on a mourning dove with a can of 3 in 1 oil, that’s probably just me.
Those birds need stop squeaking.