For Release January 16, 2005

There's a New Dove in Town

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

Life used to be much easier for the backyard bird feeder and the bird watcher. We had pigeons or we had Mourning Doves (what I grew up knowing as turtle doves.) Doves and pigeons belong to the family of birds known as Columbidae. If you go back far enough Passenger Pigeons once roamed across Kansas in huge flocks, but they've been gone for nearly a century now. Mourning Doves are native to Kansas, and the pigeons we know today, know officially known as Rock Pigeons, were brought over from Europe. And up until a few years ago, these were about the only members of this family we had to worry about in northeast Kansas.

By the mid 1980's a new dove had entered the American scene. Showing up in southern Florida was the Eurasian Collared-Dove. They apparently had flown in from the Bahamas where an aviary break-in in 1974 released about 50 of them into the wild. Once they got to the mainland there was no holding them back. Kansas birdwatchers knew that this species was moving across the southeastern United States and that they would eventually be seen in Kansas. So we were ready. What we weren't ready for was the first sighting of this species, in 1997, in western Kansas on the Colorado border. But they were first found in Goodland. And in the next 7 years they have now become established in almost every county in the state.

The Eurasian Collared-Dove looks quite a bit like a Mourning Dove. They are slightly larger than the Mourning Dove and a little bulkier, but not nearly as bulky as a pigeon. They tend to be a light gray color, almost sand colored at times. In flight, a Mourning Dove has a noticeably pointed tail, but a Collared-Dove has a flattened or blunt tail. But the real identification give away is the black collar they have on the back of their necks. There is another escaped dove known as a Ringed Turtle-Dove that also has a black collar, but these never became established in Kansas. They are smaller than a Mourning Dove and are very pale. The Collared-Dove call is also very distinctive. Instead of the five note call of the Mourning Dove that you are familiar with, Collared-Doves have a distinctive three note, almost hooted, coo COOO coo.

I saw my first Geary County Collared-Dove in September of 2001 on the east side of Junction City. These doves are somewhat fond of city areas, with well over 90% of the sightings being in or near incorporated areas. Then in the summer of 2004 I saw a pair on the west side of Junction City, just outside the city limits and later in the fall of 2004 I found another one at 6th and Eisenhower. They are here and I have already received at least one report from other residents seeing them. I expect more and more people to start seeing this species around town in 2005.

Then, as if things couldn't get crazier, a dove of the southwestern United States, the White-winged Dove, has been expanding into and across Kansas the past couple of years. This dove is closely related to the Mourning Dove and is about the same size as the Mourning Dove. When in flight it has dark wing tips and broad white stripes on the wings. At rest, the leading or lower edge of the wing has a very visible white edge. We had a White-winged Dove in our backyard last May and I expect them to be seen in the area again, although probably not as regularly as the Collared-Dove.

So as you are watching your bird feeders in the coming year, or out driving around the areas,keep one thing in mind. A dove isn't necessarily just a dove any more!

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