Of Hawks and Doves

[a.r.]

Of Hawks and Doves...

Challenging males will try to battle each other, raising their wings and 
repeatedly slapping at each other, pecking at the head, body and feathers 
of their opponent. They will continue battering each other as long as they 
have strength. The dominant male will try to mount the weaker male to 
assert its superiority. The underdog (sic) will try to raise his wings 
above his head to dislodge the attacker from mounting. If the dominant dove 
is successful in mounting his opponent and If the weaker male has conceded 
to humiliation, the dominate male will break off the attack, but will 
periodically mount the submitting male repeatedly to reaffirm his superiority.

Some males will never submit and the battle can continue indefinitely. 
Females do not normally engage in wing slapping and usually try to stay out 
of the way. The exception is a jealous female. I have a male Dove that 
initially mated with another male as his companion which was mistaken for 
an immature female. They were very happy together until I discovered my 
mistake and replaced him with a female, moving him to a separate cage where 
the former pair could no longer see each other. The dominant male readily 
accepted the new female companion and began mating after a week. When the 
former male companion returned a month later, it was the very jealous 
female who attacked her mate's former boyfriend while her mate looked on, 
sheepishly from the background. This is the only instance I have seen where 
the female attack another Dove.

/ar
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