Menage a trois at the birdfeeder


The say mourning doves mate for life and if one dies, the other will mourn the death for a long time before finding a new mate. The haunting hoo hoo sound they make can bring you to tears in its soulful sadness and is responsible for the name mourning dove.

They say a lot of things that apparently aren’t true.

My male mourning dove is a philanderer, a roué, a rake, a lady’s man, a play dovelet.

He travels with two women and loves them both. He is not faithful at all, but prefers his ménage a trois -- showing off in his clumsy way, perched on the top of my bird feeder, flapping his wings until both matronly looking ladies crash land on the feeder by his side.

Mourning doves are a foot long and look like they need gastric bypass surgery. They also look dumb, even for a bird. They have pop-out eyes that remind you of the “runaway bride,” and their feathers are the colors of ash and dung.

(Go right now to Lauren Bove's post on Mindful Things...hurry! I asked her if she could come up with a photo of a mourning dove and one of the "runaway bride" and see what she posted. This is a warning though - you will kill yourself laughing!)

They eat huge amounts of seed and are becoming a financial burden. Keeping them in seed is a costly proposition.

The male dove must like plump women as he seems to lead them to the trough to gorge while he flies off into the trees. Maybe he’s looking for another young female to join his harem? Whatever his problem is-- it is obvious he hasn’t read a single bird book, because he’s not mating for life with anyone.

My dogs who are self-trained to attack the window with the bird-feeder, at the first sight of a squirrel (sorry squirl) – are flummoxed by these birds. The dogs commence an attack and then skid to a halt evaluating the situation. “Are these things by any chance squirrels in bird costumes or are they allowed to eat at the feeder?”

That’s what I think my dogs are thinking.

Maybe these particular mourning doves are members of a Mormon sect that believes in multiple mates, or maybe the male mourning dove is just a sexy dude with too much virility and too much time on his wings, but I’m telling you I’ve put in the field work on this: this guy has two wives and he likes it that way.