Mourning doves in California: Identification, calls, nesting and hunting seasons

Mourning doves live throughout California all year. CDFW's California Wildlife Habitat Relationships account describes the species as common in a wide range of habitats across California, from croplands, pastures and grasslands to open chaparral, desert, open woodland and riparian areas. They occur in Southern California and Northern California alike, though they are much less common in winter in the coldest areas.

The mourning dove is a native bird and a migratory game bird under California law. It is protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and state law and may be hunted only during seasons set by the state, with a license and within daily limits.

This guide covers identification, range and season in California, diet, nesting, calls, legal status, the 2026–2027 hunting seasons and similar doves. It is part of our guide to the birds of California.

Mourning dove at a glance: Key facts for California

Sources: CBRC checklist (September 8, 2026); CDFW CWHR account B255; CDFW Upland Game Birds seasons and limits (2026–2027); Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds; California Fish and Game Code; 50 CFR 10.13.

Mourning dove identification: A slim brown dove with a long, pointed tail:

The mourning dove is a plump-bodied dove with a small head, short legs, a small bill and a long tail. That tail, which tapers to a point, is the key mark. Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds says no other North American dove has one like it. All About Birds gives a length of 9.1 to 13.4 inches, a wingspan of about 17.7 inches and a weight of 3.0 to 6.0 ounces, about the size of an American robin and slimmer than a rock pigeon.

Adults are soft brown to buffy tan, with black spots on the wings and white tips on the tail feathers edged in black. Adults have a small black mark on the side of the neck, though it can be hidden depending on the angle. Young birds have small white tips on many upper feathers and white marks on the face.

Mourning doves feed on the ground, often in small groups, and perch on overhead wires. Their flight is fast, with sudden climbs, drops and swerves.

Mourning doves in California: Statewide all year, with birds from the north in winter:

CWHR describes the mourning dove as a resident throughout California except at the highest elevations. It is common in croplands, pastures and other grasslands, open chaparral, Great Basin and desert habitats, open hardwood and hardwood-conifer woodland, riparian woodland and low-elevation conifer forest. All About Birds adds that it turns up almost anywhere except deep woods, including backyards.

The population shifts with the seasons. In the major mountain ranges, doves move downslope in fall and back upslope in spring. In fall and winter, birds from farther north move into and through California, a movement CWHR says is especially noticeable in northeastern California and in the northern parts of the southern deserts. Some California birds also move south into Mexico.

The species is native. The California Bird Records Committee's official checklist lists it as Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, without the mark it uses for introduced birds such as the Eurasian collared-dove, spotted dove and rock pigeon.

Mourning dove habitat, diet and nesting in California: Seeds, daily water and a loose twig nest:

Mourning doves eat almost nothing but seeds of cereal grains, forbs and grasses, which they peck from the ground. CWHR notes that they occasionally eat snails in spring and less often insects. They drink once or twice a day. CWHR says open woodland, grassland, cropland and desert all suit them as long as water is nearby.

The nest is a loose platform of twigs placed on a horizontal limb or in the fork of a tree, in an old nest of another bird or, rarely, on the ground. Nests are usually 3 to 20 feet up in conifers or broadleaf trees.

CWHR says mourning doves breed mostly from late January to late September, with a peak in May and June, and that in California they can breed almost all year depending on the weather. A pair may raise two to six broods a year. The female almost always lays two eggs. The male incubates for much of the day and the female at night, for 14 to 15 days. Both parents feed the young on seeds and crop milk, and the nestling period lasts 13 to 15 days.

Domestic cats, falcons, accipiter hawks, snakes and small mammals prey on adults or eggs. CWHR also names infection by Trichomonas, a protozoan parasite, as a possible significant cause of death.

Mourning dove calls and sounds: A soft, drawn-out coo and whistling wings:

The familiar sound is the perch-coo, a soft "coo-oo" followed by two or three louder coos. All About Birds says it is given mainly by unmated males from a prominent perch. Paired males building a nest give a three-part call with the highest note in the middle. Females sitting on a nest sometimes give a soft "ohr ohr."

The wings make their own sound. On takeoff and landing they produce a loud whistle that may startle predators or alert other doves, and mourning doves can also clap their wings together as they take off. Recordings are on the All About Birds sound page.

Mourning dove legal status in California: A protected migratory game bird:

The mourning dove is not listed as endangered or threatened and is not fully protected. Three layers of law govern it.

• Migratory game bird. Fish and Game Code section 3500 lists western mourning doves among California's migratory game birds, along with white-winged doves and band-tailed pigeons.
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The mourning dove is on the federal list in 50 CFR 10.13. Section 3513 makes it unlawful under state law to take or possess any bird on that list except as federal rules allow.
• Nests and eggs. Section 3503 makes it unlawful to take, possess or needlessly destroy the nest or eggs of any bird except as the code allows.

Together, those rules make it unlawful to take or keep a mourning dove except as state and federal rules allow, such as hunting within the seasons and limits below.

Mourning dove hunting season in California: Two statewide seasons in 2026–2027:

CDFW's Upland Game Birds page lists the 2026–2027 seasons and limits. For mourning doves and white-winged doves, the statewide seasons are September 1–15 and November 14–December 28. The daily bag limit is 15, up to 10 of which may be white-winged doves, and the possession limit is triple the daily bag. The first of the two seasons has closed for 2026, and the second opens November 14. Hunters need a hunting license, an upland game bird validation (unless hunting with a junior license) and a free Harvest Information Program validation. Seasons change each year, so check the CDFW page before any hunt.

The Eurasian collared-dove, an introduced species, is treated differently. Section 3500 makes it a resident game bird, and CDFW lists its season as all year with no limit.

Mourning dove population in California: CDFW monitors it through banding:

CDFW tracks the mourning dove through a long-term banding program that supports the 2003 Mourning Dove National Strategic Harvest Management Plan. In its 2023 banding report, CDFW says 59 banders caught and banded 1,688 mourning doves at 52 sites, short of the Pacific Flyway's goal of 1,732 a year for California. It was the first missed goal since 2011. The report links the shortfall to a wet, cool winter that produced plenty of food, after which doves visited bait piles but avoided the traps. The report gives banding totals, not a statewide population estimate, and CDFW says the data improve federal harvest models.

Similar species to the mourning dove in California: White-winged dove and Eurasian collared-dove:

Other pigeons and doves on California's official list include the band-tailed pigeon, rock pigeon, white-winged dove, Eurasian collared-dove, spotted dove, Inca dove and common ground dove. CDFW's dove identification sheet compares it with two of them, the white-winged dove and the Eurasian collared-dove:

• Mourning dove: a tail that tapers to a point and a tan, buffy body with dark spots on the back.
• White-winged dove: a white stripe along the top leading edge of the wing, a plain tan body and a squared or fan-shaped tail with a narrow white outer band.
• Eurasian collared-dove: a black ring around the neck, a plain tan body, a squared or fan-shaped tail with a wide white outer band, and a larger size than the mourning dove.

On CDFW's sheet, the pointed tail is the mark that sets the mourning dove apart. The other two have squared or fan-shaped tails, and the black neck ring and the white wing edge separate them from each other.

Mourning doves in California: A common native dove managed as game:

Mourning doves in California are present all year in open habitats from desert farm fields to suburban yards, and the long, pointed tail and soft cooing song make them easy to recognize. They are native, protected migratory birds that may be hunted only in set seasons, which for 2026–2027 run September 1–15 and November 14–December 28. Our guides to the house finch and California scrub-jay cover two more familiar backyard birds.