As mentioned previously, we are burning the proverbial candle at both ends these days. My desperate attempts to squeak out at least 25 hours in a day has been met with immense…dare say galactic resistance. Pretty sure in response to my efforts the planet has retaliated by speeding up the rotation. The tasks on the haunted trail project plan are steadily being worked, trail training has become interesting as the ankle has started to squawk as I get closer to the target pre-race goal (a bit concerning as that is usually only half of the race mileage) and later today we head to the doctor to get the results of Linda’s knee MRI. The struggle is real people ha! I know, I know, most of my stress is self-induced and almost trivial to what life can throw at you when you anger it. My running mantra grounds me on the trail and at home – “run the mile you are in” which leads is to today’s featured feathered friend sprint.
Going with a quick(er) post today as I need to get back in the haunt lab – our new set of tombstones are being prepped for paint today and our 8′ gargoyle needs the final hardcoat on its new head. Brad and Jan are still exploring other worlds, but once they are back I’ll be leaning on them heavily to keep you entertained in my absence. For now, we will continue the “European” theme from last post ….after the jump!
Except for those in the upper northeast of the US, you are likely very familiar with today’s featured species – the Eurasian Collard-Dove.
Admittedly, I do not feature members of the Columbidae (Pigeons and Doves) family very often here at Intrigued. Not that I have any angst against them (looking at you Asshats), they just seem to take a back seat compared to all the other options we can bring you. There are 15 members of the Pigeon/Dove family and I have checked off 9 of them so far. 4 are not really in the US (Common Wood-Pigeon, White-Crowned Pigeon, Spotted Dove and Zebra Dove), 1 is rare sighting only here (African Collard-Dove). That technically leaves me only ONE species still to find in the US – the Red-Billed Pigeon and for the record, I have now gone after that damn bird three times in the Rio Grande Valley without luck!
With the exception of the Collared variety, all the other Doves/Pigeons have better “curb appeal”. There are pink ones, rufous ones, brownish ones, orange billed, white edged, splotched, scaled, iridescent and the who knows what you’ll get in the Rock variety. I think it is the simplicity of color palette that makes the Eurasian Collared so appealing to me. The light grey wash over the entirety of the body accented by the single white edged black streak (collar) makes this Dove species so easily recognized. The deep blood red eye gives it that regal look that helps distract from the fact it has a profile like someone stuck a marble on a feathered bowling ball. The Dove Body Image Lobby insists I refer to them as full-bodied – they haven’t forgiven me to this day for labeling them as “plumpy” in a post long ago.
To be honest, I think their real appeal mostly comes from their sparsity here in the States. Not from a coverage perspective as their year-round region spans nearly all of the US (exception being the previously mentioned northeast). Their populations in the region tends to lag behind the other Dove/Pigeon residents. Case in point, it is hard to drive down any road without seeing a Mourning Dove taking a siesta on a powerline. The corresponding chances of seeing a Collard specimen (at least here in the Midwest) is quite slim. You know they are out there, but until you here their recognizable call (a low coo-oo followed by 2/3 boisterous coos), you are more likely to find a real feathered bowling ball.
Before I close out with some interesting tidbits, I should give you some series details. This set of shots was taken at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, CO. Yes, that is the same place as the series in the previous post – a two-for on both the location and the European birding influence. Unlike the European Starling I do not have a slighted opinion of the Collard-Dove. Contrary to the Starling, it was not purposely introduced into our ecosystem because of Shakespeare, rather escapees from a burglary at a pet shot in the Bahamas in the mid-1970s (Cornell). There was also a contingency released in Guadalupe due to a pending volcano eruption. Remnants of these released flocks took a vacation to Disney World and the rest is history. Will close with an interesting physical attribute that I just now became aware of while prepping for this post on Cornell’s site. That site noted Doves provide their chicks with “crop milk” to sustain them for their first 5 to 10 days before they are switched to regurgitated seeds/fruits. This milk is secreted from liquid filled cells in the lining of the esophagus. Fascinating!
Our paint department just called demanding to know where the tombstones are at – need to get going before they start tagging our buildings – words of wisdom, never let your paint department have idle time..NEVER NEVER NEVER (link here)!!
Wildlife Intrigued 
As the EUCD invasion got underway in Florida in the 1980’s, we soon began seeing a few on almost every outing. Ten year later, they seemed to be becoming very common. In the early 2000’s, they were everywhere, even overwhelming our backyard feeders.
About 2015, we began seeing fewer and by 2018 we saw none at our feeders. We still found a few around the county but nothing like the numbers we had been seeing.
I reckon they wanted to see the rest of the USA, so now you get to feed ’em.
We hope Linda’s knee situation resolves painlessly and quickly.
Good luck with the haunt construction, where at this time of year I suppose you are all working the graveyard shift.
LikeLike