Mourning Dove, juvenile, on the rail
Zenaida macroura
Mourning Dove · Mohonk · 30 May 2022
A young Mourning Dove on a fence rail at Mohonk, not long out of the nest and working out the rest. Mourning Doves are birds of open country and farmland across the whole continent, and one of the most abundant birds in North America; a fence rail beside a field is exactly their place.
The scalloped, dark-edged feathers across the back and wings are the tell for a juvenile; an adult's plumage is much plainer. Doves feed their young on crop milk, a secretion from the lining of the crop that both parents produce, which is why a dove can raise chicks on a diet of nothing but seed. Toned rather than true black and white, which suits the softness of a young bird's feathers.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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