This bird stumped me at first.  It looked like a dove but smaller.  I did a little research and thought maybe a Common Ground Dove but apparently this type of dove doesn’t live as far north as Cape Cod.  With the help of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology community on Facebook I have determined it is a juvenile Mourning Dove.  I should have known it was a baby with the way it didn’t fly off right away.  Similar to human babies not having stranger anxiety when they are very young.

Mourning Doves make a sad cooing sound which is how they got their name.  Watch this video to hear it.  It is also interesting HOW they do it!

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Have fun making bird sound, including the Mourning Dove, with your kids and this book!  It features the art of Steve Jenkins, who has beautifully illustrates many non-fiction picture books with his detailed paper-cuts.

Birdsongs by Betsy Franco

The sky is quiet.
The yard is quiet.
The creek is quietly gurgling.
Then…tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat! A red-capped woodpecker starts his rap for the day. Next comes nine soft coos from the mourning doves, followed by the chipping of a flurry of sparrows. And on go the birdsongs throughout the day.
Celebrate neighborhood birds in this poetic picture book, and count their sounds backward from ten to one, until all is quiet in the yard again (Amazon description).

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Do you have a favorite bird song?  Please share!

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