The beautiful white-winged dove (Zenaida asiatica) is one of my favorite migrant birds. They spend the cool months—from October on-- in Mexico and Central America, then come up here just ahead of the saguaro bloom (late March to early April). One of the great iconic sights of the Sonoran desert is a white-winged dove atop a blooming or fruiting saguaro.
A lot of folks I know, including fellow docents at Tohono Chul Park don’t like white-wingeds because they are noisy (“Who Cooks For YOUUUUUUUUU!”), ubiquitous, and messy. To me, the sound of their calls is a comfort, a harbinger and and a musical accompaniment of summer in the desert. They are frequent breeders, so there are a lot of them, and they’re big birds with big scats. I find them sweet and endearing.
White-wingeds are wonderfully devoted parents. In a post last year I described in detail the arduous and ultimately heartbreaking nesting adventures of a pair at the Park.
More recently, a pair successfully fledged a pair of dovelets in our carport.
They are at it again, using the same nest. When the babies fledged, one apparently wasn’t quite ready, and the two spent their first night of freedom huddled motionless on a wall outside our bedroom patio. I was afraid a predator would get them, but found them in the morning atop the water-heater closet:
I haven’t seen them since, but I recently read that white-wingeds are known for staying together with nestmates and other family members, sometimes for life, so perhaps they are taking care of each other, wherever they are.
This is one of my favorite white-winged pictures. This bird was cooling his feet on a hot July day on a cactus fountain at Tohono Chul Park:
Me too, love them. They haven't come back to my palo verde, but I am pretty sure they are eating in the back yard. Unfortunately, they all look alike to me, so....
ReplyDeleteWell, they ARE all alike. But lovable.
ReplyDeleteYou have converted me to being a White-wing appreciator. So glad you will be posting here often. It is a great blog and will keep me in touch.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm happy to be getting back to it. And I'm so glad to have converted you. I didn't even begin to talk about how beautiful these birds are, and may do so in another post.
ReplyDeleteWe have mourning doves here. Haven't seen any nesting though. All the good real estate is taken by the finches and wrens.
ReplyDeleteDoves aren't particularly into real estate. They'll nest anywhere they have room to put down two sticks.
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