Eurasian Collared Doves (Part 1)

Well, I've been trying not to start posting about the doves.  It was inevitable though since they are integral to my daily back yard birding, especially in Winter.

Yesterday afternoon, one of the white-buff ones, plus a few browns and dove-greys were all feeding just outside my window.  Six of them clustered together for a little photo-op.  I couldn't resist.  I rather think this is a family group.

Eurasian Collared Doves  Streptopelia decaocto

INTERESTING FACTS from whatbird.com

• The Eurasian Collared-Dove is one of two species that have been argued to be the wild ancestor of the domestic Barbary Dove.
• Their scientific name, Streptopeleia decaocto, literally means a collar (streptos) dove (peleia). In Greek mythology, Decaocto was an overworked, underpaid servant girl. The gods heard her prayers for help and changed her into a dove so she could escape her misery. The dove’s call still echoes the mournful cries of her former life.
• Introduced into the Bahamas in the 1970s, some migrated to Florida in the 1980s. They went unnoticed at first because they look much like the Ringed Turtle-Dove. It wasn't until the mid-1980s that ornithologists realized the suddenly prolific and quickly spreading "turtle-doves" they were watching were actually Eurasian Collared-Doves. Their impact on native species is unknown; some have suggested that their spread represents exploitation of a niche made available by the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon.
• A group of doves has many collective nouns, including a "bevy", "cote", "dole", "dule", and "flight" of doves.

I will post many more photos and talk about this species much more over the next few weeks.  Yes, they are invasive; however, I admire their ability to survive.  These transplants from mild climates manage to cope with our harsh, extremely cold winters.  They lose toes to frostbite in the process, but the population continues to increase.  They are also very pretty and interesting birds.

Late Fall At My Place

My back yard over the past 5 days:

November 7/10,  gratuitous squirrel picture

November 11/10, snow, pffft

November 12/10, a bit of melting going on this afternoon

Personally, I'd like to see green grass again - like until, oh, about January 15th of some very distant year.

European Starlings

European Starling  Sturnus vulgaris

It was a windy, cold, Winter-storm sort of day here yesterday.  By afternoon, six European Starlings had joined the resident birds (Blue Jays, Eurasian Collared Doves, House Finches, House Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Common Grackles, Hairy Woodpeckers) at the feeding locations.  The birds pictured above are in non-breeding plumage.

Although there are approximately 200 million starlings in North America, they are all descendants of approximately 60 birds released in 1890 in Central Park, New York, by Eugene Schieffelin, who was a member of the Acclimation Society of North America reputedly trying to introduce to North America every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.  (from Wikipedia)