Bird Sighting

For the first time, on Saturday I saw a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves. They were at our backyard bird feeder. Grant noticed them first and called me to come look. I saw right away that they were larger and lighter than the typical mourning doves we usually see, and the black line across the back of the neck (the collar) was distinctive. In flight, the underside of the tail spread into a white-band-tipped fan.

I called to see if Bryant or Andrew could tell me what I was seeing, but they were outside, probably pursuing birds of their own choosing. I thought of them when I remembered them announcing one summer that a strange bird call we heard at their place was a "Ring-necked Dove." I couldn't find anything called that in the bird field guide, so I wondered if they could explain.

As usual in such cases, I checked online, and finally figured out the identity of our visitors. I learned that they are not particularly rare in some places, and their range is expanding. They are an introduced species, in the US probably descended from captive-bird escapees. They arrived in the Bahamas in 1975.

Apparently Eurasian Collared Doves occupy a feeding and habitat niche between the city pigeon and the country mourning dove. The now-extinct Passenger pigeons may have occupied a similar niche in bygone days since this "intruder" apparently is not threatening to displace any of the native dove populations as introduced species sometimes do.

If there are other birdwatchers among my readers, I wonder if this bird is common where you live.