Zebra Dove Courting

The Zebra Doves that visit our driveway often participate in courting activity, walk-chasing each other, and “bow coo-ing.” The coo-er chases, and the coo-ee walks away.

Which … got me curious. To my eyes, both male and female Zebra Doves are identical. So how do male doves know they’re bow-cooing to a female dove and not another male?

As it turns out, there’s a 10-point checklist that one can use to determine the sex of a Zebra Dove:

1.  Iris - the male dove iris rings are smaller and lighter than female

2.  Plumage coloration - feather color is also different. Male heads have lighter feathers (light grayish compared to the female’ brownish cast).

3.  Physical Size - males are usually larger.

4.  Voice - Males are usually much more vocal. Females have a higher pitched voice.

5.  Bow Coo - Males will do bow coos; females almost never bow-coo.

6.  Male bird legs are thicker and longer.

7.  Females have a wider space pubic bone than males.

8.  Male doves have a broad chest.

9.  Male dove have a bigger, broad head; females have smaller, rounder heads.

10.  Male doves are aggressive towards other males .

Now … my question is, does the male Zebra Dove carry the 10-point checklist inside his tiny little brain, and when he’s in a courting mood, does he look back and forth between his list and his potential paramour, silently ticking off the points one by one?

Just imagine his silent conversation with himself: How’s its iris. Smaller than mine? Yep. How ‘bout the feathers – lighter on top than mine? Yep. I’m bigger, so that’s good. Not much cooing, so it looks like it’s a girl. Lemme bow-coo. Was there a return bow-coo? Nope. Good. Hey, my legs are thicker and longer. Most definitely looking like a girl …

Oh lawdie, help me.