Mourning Doves in Arizona

Mourning Doves live in Arizona all year. Low deserts stay mild and host many wintering sparrows and hummingbirds; the high country gets snow. That makes the cold months the time your yard matters most to them: their winter diet shifts toward waste grain and feeder seed.

Hot Sonoran and Mojave deserts in the south and west, with pine-oak sky islands and the Colorado Plateau rising above 7,000 ft.

Across Arizona, mourning doves typically nest from February–September. Nest site: flimsy twig platform in trees, shrubs, gutters or ledges. Females lay 2 eggs, incubate for 14 days, and young leave the nest after 12–15 days.

Summer highs above 110°F in Phoenix and Tucson make water the single strongest attractant; the July monsoon triggers a second breeding pulse.

• Mourning Doves don't use nest boxes. Keep dense native shrubs and trees such as rabbitbrush, palo verde for nest sites.
• Delay heavy pruning of shrubs until after September.

Of the regional native plants we track for Arizona, these 8 provide food or cover mourning doves use:

Doves fill their crop quickly at ground trays and platform feeders, then digest on a nearby perch.

• Best foods: Millet, Cracked corn, Black-oil sunflower, Safflower.
• In Arizona's winter: Low deserts stay mild and host many wintering sparrows and hummingbirds; the high country gets snow.

Full diet breakdown for mourning doves · Best feeder for mourning doves