Species

White-winged dove

Zenaida asiatica

A dove of the Southwest with bold white wing stripes, turning up more and more often in Georgia.

Photo MarvalPhotography19 (opens in a new tab) / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)

At a glance

Size: About 29 cm long
Weight: About 125 to 190 g
Habitat: Towns, farms and brushland
Diet: Seeds, grain and fruit
In Georgia: An uncommon visitor, most often on the coast and in the south, increasing
Voice: A hooting "who-cooks-for-you"
Rabies vector: No

Identification

Key marks: Grey-brown dove with a broad white stripe along the folded wing, bold in flight; square tail with white corners; blue skin around a red eye
Told apart from: Mourning dove, which has no white in the wing and a long pointed tail
Told apart from: Eurasian collared-dove, which is paler with a black collar
Where to look: Feeders and farmyards, especially near the coast

Behaviour

White-winged doves feed on seeds and fruit. In the desert Southwest they feed heavily on saguaro cactus fruit and nectar and pollinate the flowers.

Why they matter

Once limited to the Southwest and Mexico, white-winged doves have spread north and east over recent decades, into towns across the Gulf states and beyond. In the desert they help pollinate saguaro cactus, one of the few birds to do so.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Nest — A flimsy platform of twigs in a tree or shrub
Eggs — Usually two
Incubation — About 14 days
Nestlings — Fed crop milk; fledge at about 13 to 16 days
Lifespan — Several years

Living around people

White-winged doves visit farmyards and feeders and do no harm.

Misconceptions

Any dove with white in the wing is a pigeon breed. The white-winged dove is a wild native of the Southwest.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	A few present in the south	Present	Present	Some breeding in the Southeast	Breeding	Breeding	Breeding	Breeding	Present	Present	Present	Present

Where it lives

Recorded in 49 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

United States

If you found one

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