Fun White-winged Dove Facts For Kids

The beautiful white-winged dove, Zenaida asiatica, happens to be one of the 14 species of doves found in North America. White-winged doves are migratory birds commonly spotted in parts of the southern U.S, Canada, and also in New Mexico typically in the Rio Grande Valley region.

These birds are often confused with the Mourning dove because of their color, but they happen to be much larger than them.

White-winged doves happen to be extremely popular amidst animal photographers because of their long and magnificent white wingspan, but their popularity isn't only restricted to the circles of animal photographers. They are extremely popular among bird hunters too and happen to be the second most shot game bird in the United States!

If you like reading bird facts like this one, be sure to not miss out on the amazing great green Macaw and Indian peafowl.

White-Winged Dove Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a white-winged dove?

White-winged doves are really beautiful creatures. These are larger than average doves and have brownish gray-colored feathers on the outer parts of their body while the inner parts of the wings happen to be white in color.

What class of animal does a white-winged dove belong to?

White-winged doves belong to the animal class of Aves just like the other birds of this species.

How many white-winged doves are there in the world?

There happen to be over 300 species of doves in the world. Only 14 of these species of doves happen to be native to North America, the rest of them are mostly migratory birds that come from regions in Europe and Central Asia.

Having said that, the exact number of white-winged doves is unknown due to them being really common North American birds. It has also been noticed that their population is declining as they have become fairly popular in the circles of bird hunters.

Where does a white-winged dove live?

The white-winged dove populations have steadily been increasing in urban regions of northern and central parts of America. This is because these birds love eating grains and hence flock around places containing plenty of bird feeders.

More commonly, these colonial birds have been seen nesting in isolation in patchy desert regions or in riparian regions. Research has shown that these birds have been moving further up to the northern parts of America mainly because of the increase in heat and temperature.

What is a white-winged dove's habitat?

The white-winged dove habitat typically includes places like low-density patchy deserts, riparian regions, scrubs, and woodlands. Due to the increase in human population and the steady loss of their original habitats, they are also seen to be habituated near friendly human settlements that happen to have a high number of bird feeders.

Who do white-winged doves live with?

White-winged doves are seen living in pairs. These birds are monogamous in nature and happen to form a partner during their breeding season.

Male birds defend their nest from other males by asserting their dominance using various methods like the flapping of their wings, or even having a spar where they use their wings to slap other males!

During migratory seasons these birds gather and group up with other doves. A flock of migrating white-winged doves could consist of anywhere between 50-4000 birds, but some years ago in Texas, a flock of almost a million of these birds had been seen!

How long does a white-winged dove live?

The white-winged dove life span can range anywhere between 10-15 years. These birds tend to live longer in captivity, almost as long as 25 years!

How do they reproduce?

White-winged doves reproduce by breeding during one of the two breeding seasons which take place during summer, typically during the months of May and August. After finishing the breeding cycle and having left the breeding range, the female birds are usually responsible for choosing their male partners.

Males tend to impress females by cooing.

The female birds lay two cream-colored eggs in the nests which males usually build with twigs or trees like Tamarisk. Both the parent birds take the responsibility of looking after the young birds till they grow enough to leave and nest on their own.

What is their conservation status?

These North American birds, despite being extensively hunted as a sport, still happen to be classified as Least Concern by the IUCN.

White-Winged Dove Fun Facts

What do white-winged doves look like?

The beautiful white-winged doves are usually seen to have a brownish-gray plumage on the outer parts of their body while the inner parts happen to be white in color. These doves have a larger body as compared to many other doves.

They can grow over 11 in (28 cm) tall but still weigh only about 3-5 oz (85-141 g) Their wingspan can range anywhere between 19-23 in (48-58 cm).

The tail of these doves happens to be quite long as well. They usually have a shade of purple around their neck and nape and have a small bluish patch of feathers covering their orange eyes.

How cute are they?

White-winged doves happen to be quite plump which makes them seem extremely cute. This has caused them to become very popular amongst photographers.

Also, their gray or brownish-gray exterior looks really magnificent in the sunlight which makes them look even more attractive during the day. Over the years, these have also become quite friendly and are seen near human settlements eating grains which just adds to their cuteness!

How do they communicate?

The white-winged dove happens to be quiet and calm in nature. This bird is also often heard cooing in order to call its companion.

Unlike birds like the Eurasian collared dove, which is known to be loud and screechy at times, the noises the dove white-winged makes are pretty subdued. It is also noticed that this bird flaps its wings loudly in order to protect its nest and drive away other male doves.

How big is a white-winged dove?

In comparison to other dove breed the white-winged dove size happens to be quite larger. This grain-eating dove can grow as tall as about 11 in (27.4 cm) in length but still weigh less than 10 oz (283 g).

The wingspan of this dove can stretch as long as 23 in (54 cm) which may be a reason that this bird looks significantly bigger when it takes flight. This bird has double the length and wingspan as compared to the Common ground dove!

How fast can a white-winged dove fly?

It has been noticed that doves can fly at an average speed of around 50 mph (84 kph) which is considered to be quite a bit faster than other regular birds. Hence, it can safely be assumed that the speed of the white-winged dove range somewhere around these numbers itself.

However, these cannot be compared to other fast birds like the Peregrine falcon or the Golden eagle which are faster than these doves.

How much does a white-winged dove weigh?

These doves happen to be taller than other similar types of birds but it only weighs around 3-5 oz (85-141 g) which is significantly lesser than many other birds of its size.

What are the male and female names of the species?

A male Zenaida asiatica is often referred to as a cock whereas the female is often referred to as a hen.

What would you call a baby white-winged dove?

The baby white-winged dove, like most other dove species, are often referred to as squabs or squeakers.

What do they eat?

This dove is granivorous in nature. This means that the white-winged dove diet includes grains like corn, barley, and oats.

Are they dangerous?

White-winged doves are calm and quiet creatures and they are nowhere near dangerous. They are seen living peacefully in woodlands and patchy deserts.

Due to the extensive growth in the human population and initiatives that have been institutionalized in order to reduce bird hunting activities, these doves are also seen mingling with humans in urban settlements much more than they did before!

Would they make a good pet?

Even though the birds are calm and friendly with humans, they cannot be kept as pets. This is mainly because it actually happens to be illegal to keep a white-winged dove as a pet in the US and many other regions in Northern parts of America.

Even then, there are quite a few white-winged doves in captivity and they are seen to live twice their age in the wild when in captivity.

Did you know...

White-winged doves are known for symbolizing peace.

They can be super aggressive when it comes down to defending their nests from other male doves and predators.

White-winged doves are seen producing whistling sounds in order to call for food.

The white-winged dove distribution has increased quite a lot in recent years as there have been laws put up forbidding the hunting of these anytime outside the ideal hunting season.

White-winged dove male vs female

Males and females both seem to be quite similar but have certain differences when looked at closely.

The exterior plumage of both sexes happens to be brownish-gray in color but it is often noticed that males of this species happen to be larger than females in size and have a prominent purplish neck and nape. Their ear spot also stands out much more than the female dove's.

However, it is quite difficult to determine the sex of the dove based only on exterior factors, hence a cloaca examination is carried out in order to better understand the gender of the dove.

What does a white-winged dove represent?

The white-winged dove represents peace and prosperity. This is just a symbol and is not factually proven.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Rhinoceros hornbill facts and Boreal Chickadee facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable wood dove coloring pages.