White-winged Dove
Zenaida asiatica
The fruit pulp and seeds of the saguaro cactus is a vital food source for White-winged Doves. The fruit ripens around the end of June, about the time that the dove's hatchlings appear. Photographed at Piestewa Peak in Phoenix, Arizona.
These large doves seem at home both in urban and natural Sonoran Desert habitats in the Sonoran Desert. In the cities their most frequent food are the developing seeds in spikes of bermuda grass. They are joined on lawns going to seed by Rock Doves, Inca Doves and Mourning Doves. In upland Sonoran Desert they feed on fruit of saguaro as well as a variety of other seeds and fruit.
By the beginning of September most white-wings migrate away from the Sonoran Desert leaving their smaller cousins behind to face the gauntlet of dove hunting season.