wobblegong

Thinkin' about animals....

  • 🐟/🐠/they/them

deviantArt: jWobblegong

*tiny furry cheeps*


Image credits: [Zenaida macroura (adult).jpg on wikimedia][Dove 4694.jpg on wikimedia]

The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is one of my favorite dirt-common birds because I've lived within their range my whole life so I'm pretty familiar with them, but it was years before I found out how their second "call" works.

The default mourning dove call, a plaintive coo-OOOo... oo... oo, oo is extremely distinct and this side of impossible to mistake for anything else. If mourning doves exist within earshot of you on the regular, you will hear it.

But if you live a little closer to them, you will probably startle one off the ground/out of some bushes/whatever at some point and be surprised by a loud wheeling noise dopplering away from you. It sounds like they're almost... cheeping?

It turns out that's not a vocalization. Nope, it's the physics of air moving across their wing feathers when they flap that make that noise! There's even some research suggesting mourning doves will flap faster if scared by a predator to speed up the "wing whistle" and alert other mourning doves.


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