Odd Dove

[JimmyD]

This past weekend I saw the weirdest looking dove I'd ever seen and don't know if this bird was it's on species or what. The thing was about half again bigger than a white wing, but was real light grey and had a black spot on its neck. Does anyone know what this is called???? I thought I may have had too much to drink Friday night, but DaleT told me he'd seen a bird that looked exactly the same, and then as we were driving back into town we saw one fly over the pickup.

I talked to a couple fellas up at the office this morning and they saw some birds that looked almost identical, but they were at least 6 hours away from where we were.

Confused!!!!!!!

 

[Idaho Ron]

That would be a morning dove. we have them here in Idaho. Ron

 

[AA]

Jimmy,as you know here in Texas we have an abundunce of both, whitewing and the mourning dove. Yes, the mourning doves have a black dot on their neck but the whitewings are much bigger than the mourning dove.About the only thing larger here than a whitewing might be the common pigeon.

Who wants to eat a rat with wings anyways?

AA

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04 September 2001 22:45: Message edited by: AA ]</font>

 

[MarlandS]

Sounds like what we call a "northern" these are Mourning Doves that are simply put, huge. I don't know if they are a separate species or a mutation or just large, but they are about twice the size of a regular dove.

 

[Delw]

Sounds like a huge morning dove to me..
In Japan the doves are bigger then our pigeons here in the states. They eat in the rice fields all day thats probally why.

first time I shot a dove here in the states I was kinda disapointed in the size, then found it to be normal.. Up in washington the dove are slightly larger than the ones here In AZ. But not nearly as big as japans doves.
The ones you found must have eaten some good stuff...

Delw

 

[Oak]

Kinda sounds like a Eurasian Collared Dove. There's a picture at the link below. Is this it?

Oak

http://www.geocities.com/colorado_oak/dove.html

 

[JimmyD]

Oak,

That's damn near what I saw. The one I saw was a little lighter than that, but that was it. What do you know about those critters? I've been dove hunting for a bunch of years and this was the first year I'd ever seen one of them.

 

[Oak]

The eurasian collared dove was established in FL (probably from escaped pets) and has spread throuout the Gulf Coast states. If you look at a bird book, they only show their range extending to Louisiana, but I know of several sightings every year in southeast CO and AZ, so I imagine they are becoming more established in Texas.

Oak

 

[JimmyD]

Interesting!!!!!!!!

 

[DaleT]

That looks a lot like it. The first one I saw up close, and it was much lighter than that and it's collar went further up closer to it's beak. I do remember seeing these in the pet store as a kid and I am almost positive its the same bird as in the pet store.

I hope they get established, because they are huge compared to a moring dove. The one I saw was just a little smaller than a pigeon.

 

[Nut]

AA you know I would eat a rat with wings