Two normal sized Eurasian Collared Doves flew in yesterday into the feeder area. The above bird flew in with them but sort of stayed its distance. The above dove is much smaller than the two others. I have lots of questions but I guess I will wait and do some research. I guess this could be a young one of theirs but was it hatched last spring? Why isn't it normal size by now? I don't think they could have just hatched it but I don't know the nesting habits of these birds. If it were hatched this year, it was raised during some pretty severe cold weather.
Having done research I could probably rewrite the above statements but questions of inquiry are good to share. I found out that the top photo of the bird is a juvenile and that adults hatch out 3 or 4 nestings a year with two eggs each time. I guess the younger bird could have been hatched in late fall and survived the winter with its parents. The collar ring develops within a year and the feathers change to plain and soft brown. The article called them an invasive bird as they have spread through this continent in the past 15 to 20 years starting in Florida. Their calls really seem very similar to the mourning doves that we originally have here.
I have found two spellings on the identity of this dove. The hyphen shows up half of the time when you research it. It is also called the Eurasian Collared-Dove.
5 comments:
Well, I've learned something! I would have thought those were Mourning Doves, but now that you point it out, I do see the difference!
You are right, Larry, le second is a Eurasian Collared Dove. I can see some in my backyard.
Have a nice week-end !
When there is no way to compare them they all look alike but the morning dove is much larger that the collared doves.
The feathers look so soft. It is amazing how many shades of colors there are in the feathers.
Nice photos! We have seen a few around here also.
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