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Re: Ringed-turtle Dove in Catawba Co.



A few words about Ringed-turtule Dove.
I had a few of these birds in flocks of hundreds of Eurasian Collared Dove (ECD)
in Bahrain A couple of years ago. That was very, very difficult to pick up the
bird from ECD flock. The best features to tell them apart were:
- much lighter primaries on folded wing (almost no contrast tertials-primaries)
as well as more uniformly colored wings in flying bird
- more uniformly colored tails (without distinctly dark patches like in ECD),
well see in flying birds
- general lighter and more evenly colored appearance

Looking at the individual variation in neck collar in ECD I would be very, very
skeptic to treats that as a good identification feature. The appearance of that
collar depends on neck stretch. Neck feathers are very short so the pattern is
well visible if they shows much of its length. The best when neck is well
striated. If bird keeps its neck close to the body most neck feathers stretched
straight from the skin, thus show almost no of its pattern (and cover each other
in addition).
The general coloration varies a bit in ECD, so some birds may look lighter than
average one.
To be well understood I Do NOT say it wasn't a Collared-turtle Dove, I just
would be more careful with that species.

Mike






Dwayne Martin wrote:

> I did a little birding before church this morning and was on my way home
> when I saw a odd looking dove on the power lines.  As I went past it, I
> first thought it was just another Eurasian Collared-Dove, but I went back
> anyway to check it out.  When I got back to it, it was obvious that it
> wasn't an ECD.  It was somewhat smaller and much lighter in color.  It did
> have the ring around the back of the neck, but it wasn't as wide as on an
> ECD.  I guess it is an escaped cage bird.  It was nice to see the
> differences in these birds.  The bird was on Oxford School Rd. just north of
> Bunker Hill High School or about 1.5 miles from my house.  Maybe it will
> come to my feeder.
>
> Dwayne
> *************************
> Dwayne Martin
> Foothills Bird Club
> Claremont, NC
> dlmartin@twave.net
> http://www.geocities.com/foothillsbirdclub/
> http://www.geocities.com/ncxbill/

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Michal Skakuj  Ph.D.
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