# Trying to identify a bird in Dallas by its call **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369 "2011-05-26T22:53:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/1 "2011-05-26T22:53:49Z")
I recently moved from Longview to Dallas and there’s a type of bird I keep hearing that I don’t recognize from back in East Texas. Its call is a hooting sound, somewhat like an owl but only four hoots. It’s a diurnal bird though. I’ve seen some unfamiliar black birds around here that look somewhat like ravens so it might be one of them, but I haven’t seen and heard one of them at the same time. I know this isn’t much to go on but I figure someone will probably have a guess. I’ve been looking up birds that are native to North Texas and listening to their calls on Youtube and none are even close. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/2 "2011-05-26T23:31:14Z")
Mourning dove? > **[Mourning Dove Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_dove/sounds)** > > A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments.... ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/3 "2011-05-27T01:28:39Z")
Check out the sounds for the White Winged Dove > **[White-winged Dove Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-winged_Dove/sounds)** > > Originally a bird of desert thickets, the White-winged Dove has become a common sight in cities and towns across the southern U.S. When perched, this bird’s unspotted brown upperparts and neat white crescents along the wing distinguish it from the... Or the Eurasian Collared Dove > **[Eurasian Collared-Dove Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eurasian_Collared-Dove/sounds)** > > With a flash of white tail feathers and a flurry of dark-tipped wings, the Eurasian Collared-Dove settles onto phone wires and fence posts to give its rhythmic three-parted coo. This chunky relative of the Mourning Dove gets its name from the black... ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/4 "2011-05-27T01:58:35Z")
Those sound very close. It’s not the Eurasian Collared Dove but it could be one of the other two, or another type of dove. I’m pretty confident it’s a dove now. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/5 "2011-05-27T02:04:02Z")
Listening to it more, I’m sure I’ve heard the Mourning Dove back in East Texas, but the ones here are a little different. The White Winged Dove sounds a little closer to it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/6 "2011-05-27T12:24:53Z")
If the range maps in my Sibley guide are still accurate, you’ve got three dove species in your area: the Mourning Dove, the White-Winged Dove, and the [Inca Dove](http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Inca_Dove/sounds). And the [Rock Dove](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Dove), but I’m assuming that you wouldn’t be asking about that species. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/7 "2011-05-27T17:02:03Z")
Next time I hear one, I’ll try to get a recording of it. I can’t remember exactly what I heard, but I know that white-winged dove call is very close. That’s likely it. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/8 "2011-05-27T17:08:08Z")
I just walked outside and there happened to be two of them calling. Yeah, it’s the White-Winged Dove or something that sounds identical to it. They’re very common here, yet I don’t remember hearing any around Longview. On the other hand, I remember hearing the Mourning Dove call often there, but not here. It’s good to know what both are. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/9 "2011-05-27T17:20:04Z")
Former Dallasite. Almost positive it’s a dove, their song quite ubiquitous there. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/10 "2011-05-27T22:53:48Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > I recently moved from Longview to Dallas and there’s a type of bird I keep hearing that I don’t recognize from back in East Texas. Its call is a hooting sound, somewhat like an owl but only four hoots. It’s a diurnal bird though. I’ve seen some unfamiliar black birds around here that look somewhat like ravens so it might be one of them, but I haven’t seen and heard one of them at the same time. I know this isn’t much to go on but I figure someone will probably have a guess. I’ve been looking up birds that are native to North Texas and listening to their calls on Youtube and none are even close. Any ideas? As far as the black birds are concerned, they are undoubtedly crows or grackles, and can be either fish crows or American crows, or common grackle or great-tailed grackle (boat-tailed is found only along the coast.) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/11 "2011-05-27T23:26:32Z")
I heard a bird call I’d heard before but couldn’t identify last week and spent several minutes tracking down the bird. It was a Mockingbird. :smack: I love you, Mockingbird, but you tell me nothing! _You tell me nothing!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-a-bird-in-dallas-by-its-call/583369/12 "2011-05-28T04:37:45Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > As far as the black birds are concerned, they are undoubtedly crows or grackles, and can be either fish crows or American crows, or common grackle or great-tailed grackle (boat-tailed is found only along the coast.) I’m thinking it was a grackle. I’m pretty familiar with crows and it didn’t look like them. It seems like one was toying with my dog, flying from one side of the yard to another to get him to chase it.