Puffed Up Against The Cold

December 14, 2025

Puffed up against the cold, a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), along with a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) in the background.

The range of the Mourning Dove is impressive, being year-round in almost all of the continental US and Mexico. Quite a popular gamebird, more than 20 million birds are shot annually in the United States for sport and meat. It is remarkable that it can survive as a species under such a threat, but in warm areas a pair of these Doves can produce up to six sets of nestlings (generally of two each) in a breeding season.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.