Befriending a mourning dove can be a rewarding experience. Mourning doves are gentle, docile birds that adapt well to living alongside humans. With patience and care, you can develop a close bond with these peaceful backyard visitors.
Mourning doves get their name from their sorrowful cooing sound. Despite their melancholy call, they are sociable birds that thrive in the company of humans. Here are some tips on how to befriend a mourning dove in your yard.
Offer Shelter
One of the best ways to entice mourning doves to visit your yard is by providing shelter. Mourning doves appreciate covered areas where they can roost and escape from predators.
You can offer shelter by:
– Building a simple mourning dove house. Use a wooden box or small pet carrier and add an opening and perch. Position it in a protected spot near trees or shrubs.
– Converting part of a shed or garage into a nesting area. Leave openings for the doves to come and go.
– Letting vines and climbing plants grow over fences or trellises to create protected nooks.
– Placing a bird feeder with an overhanging roof. The mourning doves will appreciate the cover while they eat.
Providing safe shelter will encourage mourning doves to take up residence in your yard.
Offer Food and Water
Another way to quickly befriend mourning doves is by providing enticing food and water sources. Mourning doves are seed eaters and will visit yard areas with abundant food supplies.
Some tips for feeding mourning doves:
– Offer a mix of seeds on a flat platform feeder or the ground. Good options include millet, cracked corn, safflower, sunflower chips, and nyjer.
– Provide fresh fruit like grapes, melon and berries in a dish on the ground.
– Supply a bird bath, fountain or shallow dish with clean water for drinking and bathing.
– Place flattened eggshells, crushed oyster shells or grit on the ground to aid digestion.
– Consider planting fruiting trees, shrubs and vines such as mulberry, blackberry, and grape.
Having daily food and water available will make your yard a favorite stop for migrating and resident mourning doves.
Allow Close Observation
Mourning doves by nature are fairly tolerant of human presence. Allow them to become accustomed to you by sitting quietly and observing them from a distance as they forage.
After a few days, you can gradually move closer. Avoid making direct eye contact, which can seem threatening. Sit still and allow the doves to become comfortable in your presence.
Having a regular routine of filling feeders or water dishes while the doves are present will help them associate you with a positive reward. Your calm movements will signal that you are not a threat.
Soon the mourning doves may allow you to observe them from very close range as they carry on their daily routines.
Avoid Sudden Movements
While mourning doves are docile, any bird will startle and take flight if you make sudden, aggressive movements in their direction. Avoid chasing or quickly reaching towards the doves.
Move slowly and talk softly near mourning doves. This gives them time to grow accustomed to your presence. Never grab at a dove unless you need to rescue an injured bird.
With time, the mourning doves will recognize you as a gentle friend rather than a fearsome predator. Moving calmly allows trust to develop.
Use White Noise
Mourning doves may associate your voice or footsteps with danger. Try using soothing white noise to mask your presence.
The humming of a fan, gurgling water fountain or soft music playing outdoors can conceal incidental noises from humans. This puts the doves at ease as they visit your yard.
Try placing the white noise source near an area where you want to attract mourning doves, such as near a new feeder. The calming sound will help them feel relaxed and safe in the space.
Avoid Loud Noises
While white noise can help camouflage human movements, loud abrupt noises will startle doves and cause them to avoid your yard. Things like shouted conversations, barking dogs, and loud machinery are very alarming to mourning doves.
Discourage your pets from chasing the doves. Banging pots and pans or slamming doors will also frighten the birds.
By minimizing loud disturbances, especially while the doves are nesting and feeding, you will create an environment of calm where they feel at home.
Add Roosting Areas
Mourning doves like to perch on wires, tree branches, and raised areas as they survey their surroundings. Adding special roosting spots will invite them to linger.
Try incorporating:
– Tree snags or dead branches for perching
– Wooden fence posts and rails
– Raised platforms or nesting shelves on trees
– Poles with crossbars or wires
– Trail cameras or decorative plaques on posts for extra perches
Position roosts with a clear view of feeders and protected areas. Having optimal observation posts will attract visiting mourning doves.
Put Out Nesting Materials
Mourning doves are vulnerable while nesting and will appreciate supplies to create sturdy homes. You can assist breeding pairs by putting out nesting materials in early spring.
Add pet fur, dry grasses, twigs, shredded paper, cotton balls, horse hair, feathers, and fine straw. Place the materials in a mesh bag or loose pile where the doves frequently roost or feed.
Providing quality nesting materials will help ensure healthy chicks and encourage the doves to nest in your yard.
Create Dust Bathing Areas
Mourning doves take frequent dust baths to clean and absorb excess oil on their feathers. Create designated dust bathing areas by raking an area of dry, loose soil in an open, peaceful spot.
You can also fill a large planter saucer or birdbath with a shallow layer of sand, wood ash, dry soil or clay powder for dust bathing. Add another saucer with clean water nearby for bathing afterwards.
Providing materials for dust bathing will make your yard more attractive to mourning doves.
Add Brush Piles
Mourning doves seek shelter and nesting sites in dense shrubs and brush piles. Piling up branches pruned from trees and shrubs creates ideal habitat.
Arrange the piles with heavier branches on bottom for stability and leave spaces for doves to enter and exit. Place near trees or structures for added shelter.
Brush piles provide cover from weather and predators. Their shelter will invite mourning doves to take refuge and build nests in your yard.
Let Birds Mob Alarm
Having other birds around benefits mourning doves. Small birds often mob predators and sound alarm calls. This alerts the mourning doves to danger so they can take cover.
Welcome songbirds to your yard by offering diverse food and nesting spots. Tolerate harmless mobbing of hawks and cats near dove shelters and nests.
Your yard will be safer for the docile mourning dove if other birds help keep predators away. Their presence provides a collective security system.
Use Bird Deterrents
Some pests can harm mourning doves but are best discouraged without trapping or poisons. Use humane bird deterrents to protect doves.
– Install owl decoys or reflective deterrents to scare away crows and jays.
– Apply bird netting over fruit trees and gardens to prevent raiding.
– Use rodent-proof trash and pet food containers to avoid attracting skunks or raccoons.
– Clear fallen fruit promptly to prevent insects and rot from spreading.
– Trim branches to avoid overgrown cover for stalking cats.
Deterring predators and pests humanely will help create a safe haven for your mourning doves to thrive.
Conclusion
Befriending mourning doves requires patience, care and an inviting habitat. By providing shelter, food, water, nesting sites and roosts, you can attract these gentle birds to your yard.
A calm routine with minimal disturbances, along with deterring predators, will help mourning doves feel relaxed and content around you.
With time, the doves will come to recognize you as a reliable friend. You will get to enjoy a front-row view into the charming lives of these backyard visitors. The birds peaceful presence and soothing coos will make your yard a relaxing sanctuary for both you and the mourning doves.