Mourning Doves in Texas

Mourning Doves live in Texas all year. Hard freezes are brief outside the Panhandle, so most feeder birds face heat and drought stress more than cold. That makes the cold months the time your yard matters most to them: their winter diet shifts toward waste grain and feeder seed.

Humid subtropical in the east and along the Gulf, semi-arid to arid in the west; long, hot summers and short, mild winters over most of the state.

Across Texas, 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.

Afternoon highs regularly exceed 95°F — nest boxes need shade or light-colored, ventilated construction, and water matters as much as food.

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

Of the regional native plants we track for Texas, 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 Texas's winter: Hard freezes are brief outside the Panhandle, so most feeder birds face heat and drought stress more than cold.

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