For centuries, doves had been utilized as messenger birds because of their excellent navigational skills. Their gentle cooing and ‘turr turr’ calls touch the heart of anyone who has the time to listen. Their vocalizations are truly captivating and have a profound message in them.
In this turtle dove vs mourning dove article, you will explore some differences between the closely-related family members. They look so similar that trying to tell them apart from a distance is a next-to-impossible task.
Turtle doves are also known as rain doves. Species name of mourning doves is ‘Macroura’ which means ‘large tail’ in Greek. If these snippets sound interesting to you, wait to find out more about the lives of these alluring avians.
Contents
A Glimpse Into The Life Of Doves
Doves belong to the order Columbiformes, and family Columbidae. Doves are a household name and many people keep them as pets. All doves share some common characteristics among themselves– a rounded head, a rotund chest, streamlined body, short necks and short tails. Their circular black, beady eyes, perfectly embedded into their heads, are all too familiar.
Doves are quite similar in plumage color also. They usually have a bluish-white body with black or brown streaks, and white undersides. However, certain species of doves like Common Emerald doves or Mariana Fruit doves have orange, pink and green hues on their body. This family has 344 species and 50 genera. They mainly eat fruits, seeds and insects.
Turtle Dove vs Mourning Dove: Similarities
Turtle doves and mourning doves belong to the same Columbidae family so it is only expected that they will share a number of commonalities. Both the birds have light blue and brown in their plumage, with off-white underparts. Both have small beaks, beady eyes and a streamlined body.
Source: @essexwildlifetrust
Nesting and brooding occupy a significant portion of their time and energy. The males and females of both turtle and mourning doves are monogamous and devoted parents. Males and females both take turns into incubating the eggs and taking care of the chicks.
Source: @alex_ghanayem
Turtle and mourning doves like to eat the same kind of food. Grain, weeds, insects and snails are their favorite munchies. The eggs that they lay look similar too. They could be either white or brown without any blotches, and every clutch almost always has two eggs only.
Another thing that both these birds like to do is bathing–be it in the sun or in the rain. When the sun or water is streaming, they point one of their wings at the sky and maintain that posture for 20 to 30 minutes.
Mourning Dove vs Turtle Dove: Differences
So if they share so many similarities, how do you tell them apart? Though their families are the same, the genera are different. Turtle doves belong to the genus Streptopelia, while mourning doves belong to the genus Zenaida. Let’s discover more differences.
Source: @danielle.carrico.photography
Genera And Species
Turtle doves are also known as European or American turtle doves, with a scientific name of Streptopelia turtur, where the second name is similar to the sound of their vocalizations. Turtle doves have 4 subspecies, including the one mentioned above. The other three are named Persian, Saharan, and Egyptian depending on where they are usually found.
Mourning doves, apart from having a beautiful genus name Zenaida, have one extra subspecies than their close cousins. They have five subspecies that can be found in West and East Canada, Cuba, Panama, and Costa Rica. The subspecies look similar to each other with bluish-gray plumage. However, the Clarion Island mourning doves have larger feet.
Source: @sussex_sara
Wings
European turtle doves have beautiful mottled patterns on their upper sides, especially on their flight wings. The patterns contain brown geometric outlines that resemble diamonds or irregular 4-sided polygons, filled in with black splotches. This is one of the distinct and noticeable features of turtle doves that you would not want to miss.
There is an eye-catching feature on the wings of mourning doves as well. Instead of rectangular shapes on their wings like turtle doves have, mourning doves have perfectly round, black spots on the edges of their upper wings. This characteristic defines mourning doves and you can use this feature to tell the two closely related doves apart.
Size
Mourning doves are slightly bigger and heavier than turtle doves. While turtle doves are between 10 and 11 inches long, mourning doves could be as long as 14 inches.
Turtle doves weigh around 80 to 150 grams, whereas mourning doves weigh between 112 and 170 gm. In both the bird families, the males are slightly larger than the females, though it may not be noticeable from a distance.
The two birds flaunt an impressive wingspan. When turtle doves spread their wings, it measures up to 21 inches. On the other hand, the wingspread of mourning doves measures between 15 and 18 inches, which is a tad smaller than European turtle dove wingspan.
Source: @h.morichi, @jimgorum
Plumage
The plumage of both the avians need a closer observation to be worthy of differentiation, because from afar, the two birds look only cinnamon and blue. The beautiful patterns on the different locations of their body need to be appreciated.
Turtle doves, overall, flaunt a cinnamon plumage, with a medium-toned bluish-gray on the edges of their wings. Their heads and breasts have a pale rosy touch on a light gray background. Their eyes are orange in color, with blue hues on the top of their eyes giving an impression of a blue eyeshadow.
Two noticeable features are present on the turtle dove’s neck and tails. There are black and white overlapping stripes on the back of their neck, which is a distinguishing feature in these birds. Also, their black tail feathers have white edges that are short and thin. If observed from below, their white under-tail coverts create an illusion of a chevron mark on their tails.
Mourning doves have a gray and cinnamon plumage too, but turtle doves are more grayish than them, while mourning doves appear to be more brownish. They have a little pink on their chest region too, while their crowns are more bluish-gray than the turtle doves.
Mourning doves have three distinct features on their body that set them apart from turtle doves. Below their eyes, they have dark feathers that are shaped like the crescent moon, and around their eyes there is a light-blue colored rim. Not only that, but just above their shoulders, on their necks, they have iridescent, purple-pink patches of feathers.
The third feature is present in their tails. Their tails are brownish-black with thicker and longer white tips than turtle doves. Also, their tails are more pointed than those of turtle doves, that is because it is tapered at the end. If you pay close attention, you will find that males are more colorful than females, though dove plumage, in general, is quite subdued or mute.
| Body Part | Turtle Dove | Mourning Dove |
| Overall plumage color | Bluish-gray | Cinnamon |
| Head/Crown | Pale lilac | Bluish gray |
| Eyes | Orange, blue eyeshadow | Dark crescent under the eyes, blue eye rim |
| Neck | Black and white stripes | Iridescent purple-pink |
| Chest | Pale lilac | Pinkish |
| Tail | Short and thin white edges, chevron mark | Long and thick white tips, tapers off or pointed |
Range And Habitat
Turtle doves are migratory birds and visit Sub-Saharan Africa during the winters. Their range stretches across the Palaearctic region of Europe, Asia, Middle East, and North Africa. Hedgerows and woodlands are their favorite habitat, and they are often found building their nests on the bare and deadwood branches of trees located along the hedgerows.
On the other hand, mourning doves are mostly non-migratory birds and travel within 200 km at best. If they do fly, they do it mainly to seek suitable hibernation or nesting grounds. The northern populations of the birds make short-distance migration between March and April.
They are found largely in the Nearctic region that includes the Mexican plateau across Canada and Alaska. Temperate regions of North America that have forest clearings, deserts and prairies are where they live. They also like scrub forests, suburbs, and chaparrals.
Source: @athomewithbirds , @sunil_wild_quest
Behavior
Turtle doves are gregarious birds and love to migrate and breed in large flocks, however once the purpose is served, they do not remain as friendly. As parents, they are quite devoted. Their breeding season continues between May and June. After the eggs have been laid, both the parents take turns in incubating the eggs and bringing the chicks up as well.
However, while turtle doves mostly like to roost on trees along hedgerows, mourning doves seek mixed forests for nesting and feeding. During the breeding season that starts in March and continues till September, nest building is done by the females, while the materials are collected by the males. They like to roost on elevated places, but will also nest on the ground.
Calls
Turtle doves make the tell-tale sound of summer. The sound they generate is “turr turr” which is a call that everyone in urban and suburban areas, and countrysides are familiar with.
Mourning doves are called “mourning” for a reason. Their cooing calls sound like a long lament– make you remember something you lost. However, when they get alarmed they make “roo roo” sounds.
Mourning doves make whistling sounds with their wings as well. These ‘sonations’ are made when they take-off and land.
Mourning Dove vs Turtle Dove: Difference At-A-Glance
Let’s summarize all the pointers once again, shall we?
| Features | Turtle Dove | Mourning Dove |
| Wings | Diamond shapes | Round spots |
| Size | Smaller | Bigger |
| Plumage | Bluish-gray | Cinnamon |
| Range | Palaearctic region | Nearctic region |
| Habitat | Hedgerows | Mixed forests |
| Calls | Turr Turr | Coo Coo |
Thoughts
Turtle dove vs mourning dove comparison is a tough nut to crack because from a distance both these birds look the same. The cinnamon and bluish-gray kind of evaporate and look similar to even knowledgeable eyes.
However, don’t you worry, because there are some differences between these two closely related individuals that will help you to tell them apart.
Look for features in their head and chest region. Do not forget their neck and plumage either. Doves always have a message hidden there somewhere. They are not called messenger birds for no reason.
