Eurasian Collared-Doves

"These Doves are becoming more common in the rural areas south and east of Calgary, and are being seen regularly in the city as well. They seem to occupy an ecological niche between that of the Rock Pigeon and Mourning Dove. It remains to be seen if they will become a common backyard bird like the Rock Pigeon, or primarily a rural one like the Mourning Dove." By Bob Lefebvre, Calgary.

"With a flash of white tail feathers and a flurry of dark-tipped wings, the Eurasian Collared-Dove settles onto phone wires and fence posts to give its rhythmic three-parted coo. This chunky relative of the Mourning Dove gets its name from the black half-collar at the nape of the neck. A few Eurasian Collared-Doves were introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s. They made their way to Florida by the 1980s and then rapidly colonized most of North America." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eurasian_Collared-Dove/id

A week ago, on 20 December 2015, I had a really long day out with three friends, taking part in the annual Calgary Christmas Bird Count. We did SO much walking, starting at 8:00 am, getting home around 4:00 p.m., and then I was out in the evening at the potluck supper held for the many participants who covered various parts of the city.

Our first stop was at a place with a great view looking out over downtown Calgary. The sunrise colours were beautiful and the whole day gave us good weather. The Calgary Tower, which used to be the tallest building downtown, is now dwarfed by others. At this time of the year, it has Christmas coloured lights around the top section. From this location, we then spent the day driving short distances and then walking round the various residential streets. There were so many White-winged Crossbills and a pretty good number of these Eurasian Collared-Doves.

The total overall number of species seen for the whole city this year was really good, though we haven't yet had the finalized number. The group of 4 of us that covered part of the NE had 24 species, which was also very good. Will add our small group's list below.

Species 24:

Canada Goose 200+
Mallard 100+
Raven 11
American Crow 4
Magpie 86
Rock Pigeon 38
Starling 2
Bald Eagle 1
Merlin 3
Downy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 21
Blue Jay 2
American Robin 3
White-winged Crossbill 340
Red Crossbill 24
House Finch 134
Black-capped Chickadee 26
Red-breasted Nuthatch 18
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Common Redpoll 21
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
House Sparrow 750
Eurasian Collared Dove 63

Tony T.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHY THE CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT MATTERS

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141227-christmas...