




‘ 5 wi + 
ak Pt sa 
aio 3 
Sy Me 
AA ea’ “, - ’ 
he yO, ) ee! ‘3 
Fig. 7. Mourning doves typically construct fragile nests in trees 
and shrubs. The most common clutch is two eggs, with one- and 
three-egg clutches occasionally found. Crosby County, Texas. 
(Photo by R. M. Kral, USDA-SCS). 
limited area of eastern Texas. The mixed needleleaf and 
broadleaf forests are generally confined to southeastern 
Missouri, Arkansas, and eastern Texas. Shrub vegetation, 
more often found in conjunction with grasslands, dominates 
local western areas and a narrow strip along the Rio Grande 
in south Texas. Mixed forests and grasslands occupy south- 
ern Iowa, northern and western Missouri, eastern Kansas, 
mid-eastern Oklahoma, and much of central Texas. The 
shrub-grassland association is found in southern and west- 
ern Texas and southern New Mexico. The largest single 
vegetational zone is composed of the various grasslands. 
This zone, referred to by many as the Great Plains, gener- 
ally occupies the mid-tier of the CMU and ranges from 
North Dakota deep into Texas. 
A second approach in describing habitats of the CMU 
is in terms of man-caused use or change. These elements 
include urbanization, farming, grazing, lumbering, crea- 
tion of water supplies for livestock, irrigation, flood con- 
trol and power generation, and often subtle but nonetheless 
important degradation of air, soil, and water quality. These 
activities modify the original habitats either beneficially or 
detrimentally, depending on which forms of wildlife are 
involved. 
The mourning dove has adapted to all of the CMU habi- 
tats, both modified and unmodified, as a breeding, migrat- 
ing, or wintering species, except possibly in the highest 
alpine meadows and forests of the Rocky Mountains. Basi- 
cally, the mourning dove is a tree-nesting species (Fig. 7), 
although it frequently nests on the ground when trees are 
not available (Fig. 8). It generally shuns deep woods or 
forest but readily utilizes open woodlands and the “edge” 
between forest and prairie biomes. It is a seed-eater that 
has adapted readily to small grains such as wheat and 


Fig. 8. Mourning doves frequently nest on the ground if trees and 
shrubs, which provide preferred nest sites, are lacking. Gray 
County, Texas. (Photo by W. B. Brooks, USDA-SCS), 
sorghum. Thus, the farming communities of the Midwest 
have proved to be ideal as mourning dove nesting habitat. 
Possibly the most important single habitat change affect- 
ing mourning doves in the CMU was the breaking of grass- 
lands for crop production, especially cereal grains. Mech- 
anized harvesting leaves immense supplies of waste grain 
in fields (Fig. 9) and doves rely heavily on them for food. 
Concurrent with grain production, other farming practices 
have created conditions favorable to habitation by mourn- 
ing doves. These practices included planting of trees for field 
and farmstead shelterbelts (Fig. 10) and development of 
ponds and lakes (Fig. 11) for use as drinking water by live- 
stock. Additional nesting and roosting habitat was provided 
by trees and shrubs which were planted in newly established 
cities and towns associated with the farming communities. 
Some of the highest mourning dove breeding densities have 
been found in these urban areas of the CMU. 
Along the southeastern edge of the CMU, the alteration 
of climax forests for lumbering and agriculture probably 
has increased dove nesting habitat by creating a greater 
