Doves Eat … Meat?

Okay, here’s something weird. I saw doves eating meat. I thought doves were vegetarians … picky vegetarians at that.

The doves that haunt our yard love rice. They love bread, they love seeds, they love crackers, they love cracked corn. In fact, they eat anything that’s about the size of a grain of rice. The ones that come around don’t care for fruit, though. No apple bits or banana bits or orange bits for them. And, they don’t like popcorn.

A couple of days ago, I was having a few slices of Sargento pepper jack cheese and some Hickory Farms summer sausage for lunch, along with a can of Coca-Cola. The zebra doves flew in as they usually do when they see me, followed by the larger spotted doves.

I didn’t have any crackers or starch to give them, so I thought I’d tease them. I chopped some cheese in with my teeth into small pieces and tossed them to the doves. ATTACK! The cheese was gone before I knew it.

Holy moly. Doves eat cheese. That was just a wee bit shocking.

Hmmm, I wondered, what if I chopped up some of my summer sausage and tossed it at them. I wonder if they’d eat it too. Probably not, I thought. The sausage is deep dark black blood red and it’s pure meat. And, it’s got spices in it.

You know what? They loved it.

As it turns out (I googled information on these doves), zebra doves in captivity should get some cooked eggs, chicken or insects several times a week. Live mealworms in sand are good. So they’re not pure vegetarians after all.

But sausage? That kind of freaks me out. Those soft little cooey doves with their sharp beaks eat meat? Like cow meat? Yikes! I think I’d better keep them away from my toes, don’t you think?