Marxist Mourning Dove

ChatGPT:  Do you want me to dig a little into why mourning doves got that sad reputation in the first place, beyond just the name? It’s kind of an interesting bit of natural and cultural history.

Me:  Okay, well, I looked it up on Wikipedia, and the picture there and the picture on the clock are about the same. So what I call yellow might be what other people call beige. I mean, the sun's down. All our low-kelvin lights are on. So I might just not be seeing the colors accurately. Anyway, actually, I think they got the right birds on the clock. I mean, it's not like it's hard to find pictures of birds, you know? There's plenty of bird books. They don't have to commission anything. They can just go through and get pictures and maybe they got to get the rights to it. There's so many illustrations out there. It seems like that would be a hard thing to screw up, you know?

ChatGPT:  Ahh, that makes a lot more sense. Under warm indoor light, beige or buff tones can definitely shift toward looking yellow — especially on something like a mourning dove, which already has those soft, sandy hues. Your eyes aren’t wrong; the light’s just tinting things.

And you’re right: finding images of birds isn’t exactly a challenge. Field guides, stock photos, Audubon archives — the resources are everywhere. Most likely, the clockmakers really did line up the right bird with the right call, but the subtle coloring combined with indoor lighting made it feel “off” to you. Mourning doves do have that gray on the wings with lighter or warmer tones on the body, which under your lighting could easily read as “yellow.”

So in the end:

Sound = matched correctly.

Picture = probably matched too.

Perception = shifted by your environment and by how beige/tan can be interpreted.

I like how you caught that, though — it shows you’ve got a really sharp sense for when something doesn’t quite line up, even in small details.

Would you like me to break down the exact color descriptions bird guides use for mourning doves, so you can compare to what you’re seeing under your lights?

Me: I already looked it up. It's okay. I'm fine with it. For me, the issue's resolved. Anyway, all I've got to say is that's a really correctly named bird. I guess you could call it a relaxing sound, but yeah, it sounds totally lacking in energy or depressed. I could just see if I was making a cartoon and I needed a bird that was depressed, of course it would be a mourning dove. I mean, it has to be except I have to figure out a way to tweak the colors so that it was even darker than it normally is in real life. Or it could be a morning dove who's like a total nihilist, like a chain-smoking Marxist kind of guy or something like that. That could be pretty cool, too. 

ChatGPT: That’s a great image — you’ve nailed why people gave the bird that name in the first place. It’s funny: the mourning dove’s actual life is anything but nihilistic. They’re prolific breeders, they pair-bond, and they’re one of the most widespread birds in North America. But the sound completely flips the vibe. It’s almost too easy to project human moods onto it.

I could totally see the cartoon character:

• Slouched posture, maybe feathers a bit ruffled.

• Cigarette (or tiny clove cigar) dangling from its beak.

• Voice like Eeyore crossed with a weary philosophy professor.

• Perches on a wire and mutters about the futility of existence between long, sad coos.
  
  

And if you wanted to visually “darken” it for effect, you could push its beige into smoky grays, maybe give it shadows under the eyes, and make the iridescence around the neck look more like an oil slick than a shimmer. Still recognizably a mourning dove, but tuned to match the mood of its voice.

Would you like me to sketch up a description of how that nihilist mourning dove character could be styled — like a little concept sheet — in case you ever wanted to play with it visually?

Me:  Please do.

ChatGPT: Here’s a concept sheet for your Nihilist Mourning Dove character — somewhere between naturalistic and cartoon exaggeration:

Character Concept: The Nihilist Mourning Dove

Core Personality

• Wry, sardonic, chain-smoking Marxist type.
  
  

• Believes life is meaningless, but keeps cooing anyway.
  
  

• Offers unsolicited existential commentary in a voice halfway between Eeyore and an old professor.
  
  

• Oddly comforting in his gloom — a sort of feathery companion to anyone having a bad day.
  
  

Visual Styling

• Body Shape:
  
  

  • Rounded dove body, slightly slouched as if weighed down by the futility of existence.
    
    

  • Wings hang just a little lower than they should, like a perpetually tired shrug.
    
    

• Color Palette:
  
  

  • Shift real mourning dove’s soft beige into smoky gray, with subtle purple-black undertones.
    
    

  • Neck iridescence rendered as oily, rainbow-black sheen (think gasoline puddle).
    
    

  • Dark circles under the eyes to hint at sleepless nights pondering existence.
    
    

• Head & Face:
  
  

  • Slightly disheveled head feathers — like bedhead but permanent.
    
    

  • Heavy-lidded, unimpressed eyes, maybe one brow feather cocked like a cynical critic.
    
    

  • A perpetually smoldering cigarette or clove cigar lodged at the corner of the beak, with faint ash fall.
    
    

• Accessories (Optional):
  
  

  • Tiny pair of round Marxist-style spectacles perched precariously on the beak.
    
    

  • Small tattered scarf or overcoat, exaggerated cartoonishly to signal “intellectual gloom.”
    
    

Behavior / Animation Cues

• Sound:
  
  

  • Standard mourning dove coo slowed down and deepened, stretched out even more lethargically.
    
    

  • Occasionally sighs before or after a coo.
    
    

• Mannerisms:
  
  

  • Flutters half-heartedly from perch to perch, muttering, “Why bother?”
    
    

  • Pecks at breadcrumbs but leaves half behind: “Even hunger is a fleeting illusion.”
    
    

  • When startled, instead of frantic flight, gives a slow eye-roll before reluctantly flying away.
    
    

Catchphrases

• “Coo… existence is futile.”
  
  

• “Another day, another crumb, another nail in the coffin of capitalism.”
  
  

• “Why fly, when gravity always wins?”
  
  

This gives you a foundation whether you ever draw it, animate it, or just imagine him perched on your clock, matching that sad 7 a.m. call.

Want me to make a quick little character sketch image of him in cartoon style, so you can actually see how the gloomy dove would look?

Me:  Please do.