Inspection

• 1). Hold the bird upright.
  
  
• 2). Place your index finger between the dove's legs next to the vent.
  
  
• 3). Press the area gently against the bones. If they are stiff, pointed and close together, the dove is a male. If they are spongy, curved and rounded, and you can fit your finger in between them, the dove is female.
  
  

Observation

• 1). Watch to see if a dove "bow-coos" for another, or lowers the head while cooing rapidly at another bird. Males engage in this behavior when they are courting. Unless they are kept in isolation for very long periods of time, female doves do not bow and coo.
  
  
• 2). See if one bird "bills" another, which female doves engage in by begging for food from a male. The male responds by opening its beak and allowing the female to put her beak inside of his.
  
  
• 3). Observe the birds' sexual behavior. The female birds will squat down and tuck her head in. Males will mount females with their bodies facing in the same direction as hers.