Friday, February 3, 2012

Eurasian Collared-Dove

I'm back, with a new discovery! I bet after I told you yesterday that I broke my foot you thought I wouldn't be bringing you anything new anytime soon. I can still go outside to look for animals with my camera though.

The one thing I can't do right now is haul firewood around. I'm limited to very small easy work. I should have limited myself to light activity before anyway, and now I'm suffering for ignoring what the pain in my head told me. But I'm glad I can still take pictures.

So what do I have for you? I'm pretty sure what I have for you today is a Eurasian Collared-Dove. Of course, I always say that I'm never sure. I could be mistaken. So you can follow the link to see for yourself. this is the only bird that I found that matches everything. Even the sounds are the same.

These birds are considered to be an invasive species in the United States, and they are spreading rapidly. They are hanging around my town in great numbers right now. They arrived soon after I did when the weather began to cool off. I originally thought I was seeing mourning doves, but they never looked quite right.

I also think these doves have been keeping most of the other kinds of birds away. I've been saying for weeks that I couldn't find any other birds, but I kept hearing these doves everywhere. The smaller birds are there, but they keep their distance.

I began thinking these birds might be pigeons, but they didn't look like the normal pigeons I've seen before, so I did my internet search. The Eurasian Collared-Dove is the only match I've found. They are known to hang around small towns in farming areas just like mine.

I hope these doves aren't chasing away the other birds. They do seem to be rather animated though. They don't stay on the same perch for long. They'll give their cooing calls and then later a couple of obnoxious sounding squawks before they're flying to their next perching spot.

I'll show you some more about these birds in future posts. I knew I'd find something new here if I kept looking! Since I showed you my wood stove already, Monday I'll show you my new method of heating my house if I have it ready on time. This new one takes no work. I'll still use the wood stove too, but I have to limit my work and I'm running low on wood anyway.

Let me give you a hint of what I'll do now to heat my house. It involves squirrels... Just kidding!


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40 comments:

  1. These birds came up from the bahammas if I remember right. I have seen maps of how they have spread.

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    1. @Out on the prairie
      That's what it looks like from the range map of these birds I looked at. They are moving north, and getting farther all the time.

      Delete
  2. If you have truly broken your foot you need medical care! Are you getting any?

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    1. @Grace
      I got the best medical care money can buy. All I can do right now is stay off my foot as much as I can.

      Delete
  3. I think that's the ones we have here. If they are they don't seem to chase the other birds away. You'll have to get some of those red squirrels to run on little treadmills and create electricity for you. They've got enough energy :O)

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    1. @Country Mouse Studio
      The other birds seem to be coming back. Maybe these doves aren't the culprits.
      The red squirrels could do it if there was some food to fight over in front.

      Delete
  4. That is a cute bird, and I would have called it mourning doves since I can't identify any.

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    1. @Icy BC
      I thought it was a mourning dove at first too, but that black collar mark gave it away.

      Delete
  5. Oh geeez! You broke your foot Ratty? I'm just now trying to catch up on blogs. I'm so sorry. That's about the worst thing that can happen to a guy. Especially one that loves to go wandering. I do hope you heal quick. Be careful. I like these photos of your dove. Very pretty. Take care.

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    1. @Ginnymo
      I'm getting better pretty fast. I've been able to go outside around the house just a little bit, even though I probably shouldn't. My foot will be fine in no time.

      Delete
  6. Apparently they have spread into SE Washington as well. I took some photos of some the other day but had not taken the time to look them up. There was a flock of about a dozen hanging around. Of course in another tree is where our female Red-tailed hawk likes to hunt from, she might find this invasive species very tasty.

    Take care of that foot Ratty!

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    1. @SquirrelQueen
      I think the hawk will get a lot to eat. Hawks are beginning to come around here now too.

      Delete
  7. Well, if they get to be too objective they are doves, after all, and good to eat!

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    1. @montucky
      I'm beginning to see hawks around here now, and they probably think those doves are good to eat too.

      Delete
  8. They do look a lot like mourning doves. We see those all the time here - we live in the big city, and I am pretty sure what I see out my window are mourning doves, not those Eurasian collared doves.

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    1. @Sparkle
      You're probably still seeing mourning doves, but these Eurasian collared-doves are probably on their way. They seem to be spreading rapidly.

      Delete
  9. Hi Ratty. I thought it was time I stopped and said hallo. The doves are everywhere here. Gentle creatures, I'm fond of them. Unfortunately so are the local cats! I have not noticed any adverse effect on the other birds.
    Hope your foot heals well.

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    1. @Don't unplug your hub
      The doves aren't native to here so it might be different. I hope they are able to blend in well. The cats around here are probably looking at them hungrily too.
      My foot is already on the right path towards healing.

      Delete
  10. I saw the first picture and thought it was a mourning dove until I started reading. Are you finally going to put the squirrels to work for you?

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    1. @Ann
      The markings of the dove, especially that black collar, tell its true identity. I wish I could put the squirrels to work, but they escape too easily.

      Delete
  11. Very interesting. I've never seen this bird. If it's that invasive, I guess I hope I don't. Good pix.

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    1. @Sharkbytes
      They are spreading fast. I think there's a good chance that they'll show up in Michigan soon. I'm not sure if they're doing any harm, but there are a lot of them here right now.

      Delete
  12. Frankly, reading in your early writing, I was shocked and amazed, how could a broken leg, is still continuing adventures.

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    1. @Fadjar
      It's my foot that's broken, and it's not broken very bad. Right now I'm only going on very small adventures outside my house. I'm glad there's a lot of nature right outside my door.

      Delete
  13. yes, i also a see a lot of them here, but did not know they were invasive non-native birds, thanks for sharing the information. great capture of the bird with the beautiful lighting.

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    1. @betchai
      Look at them very closely for that black collar. They look very similar to mourning doves. I hope these birds are able to blend in with all the other animals here.

      Delete
  14. I'm glad I only have native Mourning Doves. Nice shots of the invasive doves...hope they stay in your neck of the woods.
    Hope you recover quickly!

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    1. @Jean
      They seem to be spreading fast. Maybe they'll behave like the mourning doves though.

      Delete
  15. Are you burning the squirrel waste to heat up your house?

    You must have collected a lot of them.

    (Grin).

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    1. @Rainfield
      I wish I could do that. All the squirrels would have to do is sit on the chimney of the stove. :D

      Delete
  16. I have a pair of collared doves that visit my garden on a regular basis...i don't know if they are a specific 'type' of collared dove...I didn't even know there were different types of collared dove. Next time they visit the garden I will take a closer look.

    Oh and gald you're still getting out a bit!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. @allotments4you
      These collared doves are probably the exact same kind as yours. The kind we have came from your part of the world.

      Delete
  17. Doves are beautiful anytime. Ours are just the plain Mourning doves ...always in pairs. I love that brown and the grays that distinctly say 'dove'.

    But these gentle easy moving birds have the respect of every bird and even the squirrels that come to the feeder. While the others are challenging and chasing away the competition steadily, not a one will challenge the dove.

    I know that this unassuming bird can deliver a firm and disorienting knock to the skull of any critter that messes with it. Perhaps its reputation for peace comes from the fact that it can be a formidable enemy.

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    1. @thepowmill
      I hope these collared doves behave themselves the same as mourning doves. I haven't seen them being aggressive, and people from where they come from say they are gentle. So maybe they will be a beneficial addition to the western hemisphere.

      Delete
  18. Hello! We also have so like ones! But I did not know they names,Now I know...Thanks! Beautiful photos!

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    1. @Amin
      These doves recently came from your side of the world, so I'm sure you have seen many of them. They are beautiful birds.

      Delete
  19. We have lots of mourning doves around here in Maryland and they all look exactly like this one. Are we mislabeling them?

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    1. @Nina Liakos
      These collared doves and mourning doves look very similar. The main difference is that these collared doves have that black collar on the back of their necks. That collar, or the lack of it, is how you'll know which kind you have.

      Delete
  20. Interesting to learn about one of the Dove species and it indeed looks very different from other kind of the same species. I usually get to see only pigeons here at my place, but I've never seen this kind of a Dove anywhere nearby and it definitely looks like one of a rare kind.

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    1. @Elvirah
      I've now been told that these are very common in Europe and nearby Asia. Maybe they don't go to your part of the world. They are not native to mine either.

      Delete