Mourning Doves in our Back Yard

I am interrupting my planned posts about our Tucson experience to share some photos from our backyard this week. The weather was warm enough that the snow was melting…and the birds were very active. I was busy photographing some blue jays through my office window when I noticed a mourning dove on the deck railing. We almost always have a pair around our house. Another dove joined the first almost immediately.

Their feathers were fluffed

And they continued to preen themselves.

Then they preened each other.

The courtship continues with a beak lock ‘kiss.’

The finale of mating follows quickly and is over in a few seconds.

The male spreads his tail feathers briefly (so fast that my photo only caught them slightly spread).

And so the cycle of doves around our house will continue in 2016. I hope they don’t build their nest in one of our gutters like they did one year – only to be flooded out at the next rain.