1. Mourning Dove
Mourning Doves are found all year in Iowa, but they are spotted more during the breeding season from April to September. They are recorded in 45% of summer checklists and 16% of winter checklists submitted by bird watchers for the state.
Mourning Doves are graceful small-headed birds with plump bodies and long tails. They are a soft brown color with black spots on the wings. Males are slightly heavier than females.
- Zenaida macroura
- Length: 9.1-13.4 in (23-34 cm)
- Weight: 3.0 -6.0 oz (96-170 g)
- Wingspan: 17.7 in (45 cm)
Mourning Doves are common over all of the lower 48 all year but may migrate after breeding from the north of the Midwest and southern Canada.
Mourning Doves can be seen perching on telephone wires and foraging for seeds on the ground in grasslands, fields, and backyards. They can also be found in open areas or woodland edges.
Mourning Dove call:
Attract Mourning Doves to your backyard by scattering millet on the ground or platform feeders. They will also eat black sunflower seeds, nyjer, cracked corn, and peanut hearts.
2. Rock Pigeon
Rock Pigeons are an introduced species in Iowa and they are residents of the state all year. They appear in 6% of summer checklists and 9% of winter checklists.
Rock Pigeons are well recognized around towns and parks and are usually blueish gray with two black bands on the wing and black on the tail tip. They have iridescent throat feathers and orange eyes.
However, they can also be white, spotted, or red.
- Columba livia
- Length: 11.8-14.2 in (30-36 cm)
- Weight: 9.3-13.4 oz (265-380 g)
- Wingspan: 19.7-26.4 in (50-67 cm)
Rock Pigeons do not migrate and can be found in all US states, southern Canada, and the Pacific Coast to Alaska.
You can find Rock Pigeons in cities, parks, and backyards, especially if there is birdseed on the ground. Some cities have ordinances against feeding pigeons as they are considered pests.
Rock Pigeon Call:
Fun Fact: Rock Pigeons have an amazing ability to find their way home using the earth’s magnetic field.
3. Eurasian Collared-Dove
Eurasian Collared-Doves are found in Iowa all year. They occur in up to 3% of summer and winter checklists.
Eurasian Collared-Doves are light brownish-gray, with white patches in the tail, and look very similar to Mourning Doves, but with a black half collar at the nape of the neck. They are also larger and with a square tail rather than pointed.
- Streptopelia decaocto
- Length: 11.4-11.8 in (29-30 cm)
- Weight: 4.9-6.3 oz (140-180 g)
- Wingspan: 13.8 in (35 cm)
Eurasian Collared-Doves are an introduced species that only arrived in the 1980s but now live across most of the United States.
You can find Eurasian Collared-Doves in most areas, including rural and suburban and they eat a wide variety of seeds and grain but also eat some berries and insects.
Eurasian Collared-Dove song:
4. White-winged Dove
White-winged Doves are not very common in Iowa but they are recognized as regularly occurring in the state. There have been some occasional sightings here during the breeding season from April to September.
White-winged Doves are pale gray-brown with a black line on the cheek and a white stripe on the edge of the closed wing, which is striking to see on the middle of their dark wing in flight. Males and females look the same.
- Zenaida asiatica
- Weight: 4.4-6.6 oz (125-187 g)
- Wingspan: 18.9-22.8 in (48-58 cm)
White-winged Doves breed along the southern border with Mexico and are resident in Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. Those to the north of the range may move south towards the Gulf Coast or into Mexico for winter.
You can find White-winged Doves in deserts, dense, thorny forests, woodlands, and suburban areas. Their diet is mostly grain, fruits, and large seeds, and they forage on the ground.
White-winged Dove Call:
Attract White-winged Doves to your yard with sunflower, corn, safflower, and milo on platform feeders. Also, plant native berry-producing shrubs.
5. Inca Dove
Inca Doves are considered accidental species in Iowa, and according to records, they have only been spotted around Altoona in 2016.
Inca Doves are small and slender birds that are as comfortable in human surroundings as they are in te desert.
Inca Doves are generally tan, sandy brown, or brownish-gray all over, enabling them to blend in with their desert-like environments. Their feathers have darkened tips that give them a scaled pattern.
They have dark bills and buffy underparts. Their rusty red wing feathers are more obvious during flight. They have rounded tails with white outer tail feathers.
Males and females and juveniles and adults are very similar. The main difference is that adults have dark red eyes while juveniles have pale yellow.
- Columbina inca
- Length: 6.5 – 9.1 in (16.5 – 23 cm)
- Weight: 1.1 – 2.0 oz (30 – 58 g)
- Wingspan: 11.2 – 12.6 in (28.5 – 32 cm)
Inca Doves mainly live in Mexico and Central America but they are also found in southern US states.
You can find Inca Doves in dry, open areas like deserts and scrublands. They are also at home in urban environments like cities, towns, parks, and farms especially if they have shrub cover, scattered trees, and accessible water sources.
Inca Doves forage for food mostly on the ground but also frequent bird feeders. They normally eat seeds from grains, weeds, and grasses. They also need to drink water daily so they visit pools, dripping faucets, and eat moist fruits on cacti.
Inca Dove calls:
Nests of Inca Doves are often found in trees and shrubs up to about fifty feet above the ground. In urban sites, they may nest on utility poles, houses, and other buildings. Both parents work together in building the nest out of twigs, grass, leaves, and strips of bark.
They line the nests with grass and feathers and over time, the nest also becomes stronger from their excrement.
Though they build their own nests, sometimes they also reuse old nests left by Northern Mockingbirds, Mourning Doves, and Cactus Wrens.
The female lays only two eggs but both parents take turns in incubating them for as many as thirteen to fifteen days. When they hatch, they are fed “pigeon milk” exclusively for the first few days. After twelve to sixteen days, the young leave the nest.
Attract Inca Doves to your backyard by offering black oil sunflower seeds, cracked corn, millet, and nyjer seeds.
Fun Fact: Inca Doves huddle together in a pyramid formation when they feel cold. Pyramids can contain up to twelve birds.
6. Common Ground Dove
Common Ground Doves are accidental species in Iowa. They are extremely rare in the state and have not been spotted in a number of years.
Common Ground Doves are the smallest doves in North America.
Male Common Ground Doves have grayish crowns, pinkish heads, necks, and upper breasts with a scaled pattern. Their bills are either pink or red with a dark tip. Their backs and wings are brown with some dark brown patches on the wings.
In flight, their reddish-brown underwings are more obvious. Their underparts are pinkish-brown or pinkish-gray. Legs and feet are also pinkish.
Female Common Ground Doves have a similar pattern but their coloring is more evenly grayish-brown.
- Columbina passerina
- Length: 5.9 – 7.1 in (15 – 18 cm)
- Weight: 0.92 – 1.41 oz (26 – 40 g)
- Wingspan: 11 in (27 cm)
Common Ground Doves live from Mexico to northern South America and the southern US states and the Caribbean.
You can find Common Ground Doves in dry and open areas with tall grasses or groves of trees, like forest edges, deserts, oak scrublands, and lake shores. They also inhabit residential neighborhoods, orchards, ranch yards, and farm fields.
Common Ground-Doves are voracious ground feeders. They continuously eat while moving on the ground. They primarily eat seeds from wild grasses and weeds and berries and fruits from shrubs and trees. They may also eat snail shells for their calcium needs during nesting.
Common Ground Dove calls:
Nests of Common Ground Doves may be on the ground or on bushes, low tree branches, stumps, and fence posts. Their nests are simple, shallow scrapes lined with grasses, rootlets, and pine needles. Nests in trees are constructed out of twigs or pine needles. The female lays one to three eggs and will incubate them for about two weeks.
Attract Common Ground Doves to your backyard using commercial bird seed, canary seed, buckwheat, sorghum, and other seeds. They feel comfortable when there are a few shrubs to provide cover and open space around their water source.
Fun Fact: Common Ground Doves feed “crop milk”, a secretion from their esophagus, to feed their young.
