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Bird of the Month The Mourning Dove is by far the most common and widespread native dove in North America (the well-known Rock Pigeon is also widespread but is not native). Mourning Doves are gray-tan overall, with black spots on the wings, blue eye rings, and long pointed tails. The sexes are nearly identical. When people go "dove hunting" they are hunting Mourning Doves. Seeds make up 99 percent of a Mourning Dove's diet and they readily come to backyard seed feeders. Members of a pair preen each other and after courting build a flimsy nest of pine needles, twigs, and grass stems. The male carries twigs to the female, who weaves them into an eight-inch nest. The song is a soft coo-oo followed by two or three louder coos ("mourning"), given mainly by unmated males. Mourning Doves' wings make a very distinctive whistling when taking off and landing. Mourning Doves do a "leap-frog" migration – each fall, the population that breeds in southern Canada and the north-central U.S. migrates to southern Mexico and Central America, thereby "leap frogging" over the resident (year-round) populations that are so common across the remainder of the U.S. and most of Mexico. Mourning Doves use many habitats and are by far the most common dove species throughout Four Seasons; they come to our seed feeders and are seen during nearly every bird walk. ~ Steve Edelman Birding CLUB We had a nice group and lovely weather for our Winter Field Trip to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area on Feb. 19. We tallied 37 species in a morning of birding with lots of ducks and other waterbirds as well as a good variety of hawks and songbirds. Highlights included a female Vermilion Flycatcher, Tree Swallows building nests in tree cavities, and great looks at Black-Necked Stilts and a variety of ducks. Our resident bird species are becoming active as spring begins, including Killdeer and Mourning Doves, our Bird of the Month. Resident species began nesting in late February. On Feb. 16, Sandra Butler-Roberts reported "bushtits are re-using their nest from last year. A lot of nesting activity happening already." Later in February, Mike and Hildyne Tanouye observed a female Anna's Hummingbird on its nest in their yard. ~ Steve Edelman, steve.h.edelman@ gmail.com FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | APRIL 2022 39 The Community Garden Club held two special events that had a great turnout. On Jan. 15, we hosted Rebecca Levers, a UCCE Riverside Master Gardener who presented "Landscaping with California Natives." Rebecca brought several native plants to give away in our event raffle. On March 12, Barbara Levin, also a UCCE Riverside Master Gardener, presented "Growing Vegetables and Herbs" in our Beaumont climate. Again, we gave away seeds and starter plants in our event raffle which is a crowd favorite. Save the date for our next event taking place on May 14 at 10 am in the RCN. ~ Pat Wayne, pwayne1@outlook.com Community Garden Club John Hansen photographed this cute little Killdeer in the wash behind The Courts Mourning Dove. Photo by club member John Hansen at The Courts Great Egret at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area. Photo by Gerrie Karczynski

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