Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Calls among doves have similar acoustic structure (mostly a series of "coos"), but with species specific rhythms (Goodwin 1967, Alstrom and Ranft 2003). Socorro Dove has six distinct vocalizations (Baptista et al. 1983). The first is an advertising coo, which is given by unmated males and also is given by males engaging in aggressive encounters. It is described as Coo-oo, OO, OO, OO, Coo-oo! or a disyllabic coo followed by three single louder coos and ending in another disyllabic coo. Howell and Webb (1995) describe what is presumably the advertising call above as wah-ah ah ah ah, ahh-ah. The second vocalization is a nest coo, which the males give from an established or potential nest site; this is a Coo-oo! that lasts for about two seconds. The third is the greeting call, typically given by the male as his mate approaches after the two have been separated. This call is a soft ork, lasting around 0.5 seconds. The fourth vocalization is the nest defense call, given by both sexes to scare intruders from the nest. This call involves rapid beating of the intruder with the dove's wing, and Rooo sounds. The fifth vocalization is the alarm call, given when the dove is in danger, which is a disyllabic Rooo-oo! with the second syllable at a lower frequency than the first. The last distinct call is the female call, also known as the "growl", which is used by females to draw their mates to the nest. This call is transcribed as oohr-oor (Baptista et al. 1983).

The only known non-vocal sounds are wing-flicking and wing-beating. Wing-flicking occurs between mates during foraging and wing-beating occurs while defending the nest against intruders (Baptista et al. 1983).