In Pennsylvania, the dove population peaks in August and September when adults and locally produced young are joined by migrants from farther north. They migrate leisurely, averaging about 15 miles per day. While dove numbers fluctuate from year to year, there's no evidence that the population is cyclical. The mourning dove is a bird of open woodland edges. Favored habitat includes farmland with scattered trees and shrubs, open woods, evergreen stands, orchards, roadside trees and suburban gardens.
Doves usually avoid dense forests.
Food isn't normally a limiting factor, because doves can subsist on a tremendous variety of seeds and can fly to places where food is adequate. Because they're so mobile and adaptable, there's little need to manage habitat specifically for them. Also, millet overseeded in corn provides extra food. In general, doves concentrate in areas with plentiful weed seeds or waste grain, near trees for roosting and nesting, and within easy flight of a water source.