The rock dove is known to most people as the common pigeon, or “rat with wings”. Treated with disdain by many, largely due to their fecal disrespect for our statues and buildings, they have adapted well to living side-by-side with people. In fact, together with house sparrows and European starlings, they are the most successful bird species in our urban areas.

Like the house sparrow and European starling, rock doves are not native to North America. The species is native to Eurasia from which it was introduced into the New World with early colonists (why remains a mystery), and now ranges from Atlantic to Pacific and from Alaska in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south. They are called “rock” doves because, in their native habitat, they nest along rocky seacoasts or inland in gorges or river valleys on cliffs. In urban areas, they choose to build their flimsy nests on building ledges, bridges, monuments, abandoned houses and barns, and even the underside of Ocean Grove’s fishing pier.

Rock doves are so successful because they like to live where we do and they are prolific breeders. They can have several broods each year, with multiple young (usually two) at a time. Incubation can last up to 19 days and both parents care for the young. Within 5 weeks, the young are usually ready to fly and by the time they are 6-12 months old, they can begin breeding themselves.

Rock doves are highly variable in their plumage, ranging from the typical gray with a darker head and white rump to salt-and-pepper, brown, white, and everything in-between. Males can differentiated from the females by the more brilliant metallic green and purple iridescence on their necks and breasts as well as the strutting they perform for females when they’re feeling amorous, which seems to be always.

The second species of dove which calls Ocean Grove home is a native species, the mourning dove. The mourning dove, although not as adept at living within urban areas as the rock dove, has nonetheless proven quite successful in living amongst people in suburban and rural settings.

The mourning dove ranges from Atlantic to Pacific, from southern Canada in the north to Panama in the south. They are monogamous and both parents share duties in caring for the young. They can have up to 5 broods each year, with multiple young (usually two) at a time in structures so flimsy, they’re barely nests. As with the rock dove, the male supplies the nest material, while the female constructs the nest. Incubation can last up to 15 days and the young are fed “crop milk” at first, seeds and fruit thereafter.

“Crop milk”, in case you really want to know, is derived from sloughed-off, liquid-filled cells that line the crops of both male and female adults and it is rich in fats and proteins. It seems to work well for doves, so maybe that’ll be the new diet fad for 2009.

Slimmer than the rock dove, with a more tapered tail, mourning doves are a pale pinkish brown on the breast while being a darker gray brown above. Their calls are unmistakable and yet, many people often think they’re hearing an owl when in fact, it’s a mourning dove. The call is a soft, mournful (hence its name) “oowoo-woo-woo-woo”. They often sit atop roofs and in trees while calling.

Both species of dove feed primarily on grains, seeds, and fruits. They store their food in a large crop and then grind it up, with the aid of grit, within their gizzard. Their ability to store large amounts of food within their crop allows them to feed briefly in areas which may be dangerous for them and then digest the food later, in a safer location.

Both species of doves are also year-round residents of Ocean Grove and are found virtually everywhere – from your bird feeder, to the beach, to Main Avenue. Despite being strong fliers, some of their primary predators are other birds such as peregrine falcons (fastest bird in the world) and cooper’s hawks (a bird of prey often observed in Ocean Grove, especially in winter). Despite such dangers, mourning doves have been known to live as long as 19 years, although the typical adult annual survival rate is 40-65%.

When Ocean Grove was founded, it was home to a third species of dove known as the passenger pigeon. This bird was, at one time, the most abundant bird in North America, with flocks estimated to contain as many as 2 billion birds. They would travel in flocks so large that they would “blacken the sky” in the early 1800’s. In 1900, however, the last wild passenger pigeon was seen and the last one in captivity died on September 1, 1914 at 1:00 p.m.

The passenger pigeon was larger, by about 4 inches, than the two dove species which survive today. It had a pink breast and was blue-gray above. At one time, it ranged across the eastern U.S. from southern Canada to the Gulf Coast of Mexico and as far west as the Great Plains.

Overhunting appears to be the culprit behind this species’ extinction, although the conversion of woodland habitat to farmland also contributed to the species’ rapid decline and eventual extinction. Early colonists, impressed by the bounty the enormous flocks presented, killed without thought. Completely unregulated merciless hunting doomed them. Not for food, nor because the birds were a menace, but rather because they were simply something to shoot at and there were a lot of them. By the time anyone noticed that the population was crashing, it was too late. So, think about that next time you insult a pigeon.