General Description: Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura) are medium sized doves with a plain gray or brownish appearance and black spots on the wings. The tail is pointed, and the outer tail feathers are white. Up close, they have a delicate blue eyering.

Taxonomy: Columbiformes, Columbidae.

Favored Habitat: Everything from urban areas and desert scrub. These are hard-core desert birds.

Where to Find: Urban parks, lawns, bird feeders, the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, and dry desert scrub.

Comments: Given enough seed at a feeder, Mourning Doves can become quite abundant and a bit of a pest. When people go "dove hunting," this is the bird they are after.