We have Mourning Doves in the neighborhood and I’m so glad.

They make lovely cooing noises in the morning.

Even when they’re cold, they look absolutely adorable.

yet so completely pitiful.  I’m not sure that any more of his head could be stuffed into that puffy breast.

We had doves in California that enjoyed the cockatiel food.  I even named one of them Medusa.  Not for any symbolic reason, it simply sounded nice.  Medusa liked to hang out with another Mourning Dove that had some Rock Pigeon in his blood because his chest was the purple sheen of a common pigeon.  But Medusa didn’t mind.

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In SLC we have whole groups of doves!

I could stare at them for hours

and my backyard has a pair that enjoy sifting through the grass for seeds that fell from the feeders.  I guess the Mourning Doves are a bit too large to perch on the feeders.  They also seem to generally prefer ground feeding.

They’re not very afraid of me.  I can walk around in the same backyard and they watch me, but they don’t flee.