[birding] Collared Doves

[Joel Geier]

Hi Kaynor & anyone else who's wondering,

According to /Birds of Oregon: A General Reference/, Eurasian Collared-
Doves are thought to originally have come from India. They have been
expanding their range on their home continent since around 1600 (in
recent decades showing up in Sweden).

The population in North America is supposed to have started with
introductions in the Bahamas and Guadalupe in the 1970s. The introduced
birds rapidly spread throughout the Caribbean islands and eventually
made the hop to Florida. They have continued to spread in North America,
apparently mostly on their own, though some were also released in
southern California in the mid-1990s. 

They do seem to be breeding successfully in the areas where they've
shown up. Oregon started to produce nesting records a few years ago, so
the ones showing up around the Mid-Valley now might well be "Oregon
semi-natives."

There are also a few escaped Ringed Turtle-Doves in our area, a cage-
bird variety that is believed to be derived from the closely related
African Collared-Doves. Usually these escapes are paler birds than
either Eurasian Collared-Doves or the parent, wild stock of African
Collared-Doves. However, some dealers in the pet trade do stock
"African" Collared-Doves which can escape, as birds are prone to do. A
few years back a bird showing typical coloration of African Collared-
Dove was hanging around with a flock of Mourning Doves in Independence.
There are slight differences in terms of size, but otherwise the only
good way to tell them apart is by getting a look at the undertail
coverts. 

By now, the expanding Eurasian Collared-Dove population is probably
large enough to outnumber the escaped African Collared-Doves in our area
by at least 10:1 (just going on the volume of reports). So it's getting
safer to assume that you're seeing wild birds even if you can't get a
look at the undertail coverts.

Happy birding,
Joel

On Sat, 2009-04-18 at 22:14 -0700, Kaynor wrote:
> What's the deal with the Eurasion Collared Doves - are they escapees,
> now breeding here, or....?
>  
> Thanks
>  
> Kaynor