BIODIVERSITY
Mourning Dove
Zenaida macroura
Photo Credit: Alan Sparkman
Video Credit: Amanda Sparkman
PAUL WILLIS
Birds on Campus
Mourning doves repeat themselves.
No end of loss,
no end of loss.
Corvus on a black Corvette.
There never yet
was a car named Crow.
Juncos spread across the lawn.
Linebackers shifting
position before the snap.
Acorn woodpeckers knock out
little redwood rooms.
Habitat for acornity.
Scrub jay.
What can I say?
What can I say?
—from Getting to Gardisky Lake (Stephen F. Austin State UP, 2016)
The faint-hearted mourning dove is easily startled out of the bushes, flying up suddenly and vocalizing with rapidly fluttering wings. Their low, sweet song is an easily distinguishable sound across campus. You can see a picture of a dove sitting on her nest in faculty housing on the Breeding Birds page.