MOURNING DOVES FEEDING AGROUND

If not for their somber cooing sound to disclose that at least one of them is nearby in a tree, on a powerline, on a roof, or some such, the sharp whistling sounds of the wing-beat of this sleek-bodied, red-legged, tapered-tail dove that is grayish-mild-brown in color will likely render that result. We are referring to the mourning dove species and subspecies, a gamebird of the Columbidae family that is said to have come on the North American continent from the Bahamas after its introduction there.

Variously named, having been even called the Carolina pigeon, the mourning dove is quite aptly named the mourning dove due to its woo-hu-woo-woo-woo call, albeit humans have sort of imposed upon it a sorrowful nature by associating this dove's call with a sound we think of as sad. But, then again, it seems this very association is what was in the mind of King Hezikiah when he stated in a writing, him having written it after his recuperation from his sickness which nearly ended with his death, "Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me" (Isaiah 38:14).

Now, maybe because of the small dot situated on either side of the mourning dove's neck just below each of its dark eyes combined with the factor of the situation of Eurasian collared doves and mourning doves coexisting, but then arises times wherein one species is seen after the other but not together, or maybe for some other reason, the mourning dove has been confused with the Eurasian collared dove -- a mistake this birdwatcher (i.e. yours truly) initially made in attempting to identify the doves featured in this video. The Eurasian collared dove is dark-red-irised, more light gray in hue, and also typically has the noticeable collarlike nape feather marking that gave rise to its nomen, however, and, furthermore, the sparsely dark-brown-spots-and-flecks that dapple the wing feathers of the mourning dove are absent from the Eurasian collar dove's wings.

Speaking of dove's wings, David the psalmist-shepherd-prophet-king declared in Psalm 55:6, "And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."

Musing currently on that Genesis 8:8-12 tells us that a dove (in combination with an oreb, the Hebrew term beneath the English "raven," per verse 7) was instrumental to Noah in determining how close was the time he and his seven family members as well as the protected animals could disembark from the massive Ark, I find myself wondering if it was a dove of this same dove specie that Noah sent out.

Some have actually suggested exactly this, and it could be so. Either way, the yonah (yo-naw') -- the Hebrew term translated "dove" & sometimes "pigeon" in the KJV's OT -- certainly has been featured by the Creator-Savior in His Redemptive Plan. (Consider Leviticus 1:14; 5:7; Luke 2:21-24; & 3:22.)