Streptopelia decaocto - collared dove. In my neighborhood, at least, the collared dove, an invasive species, appears to have almost completely replaced the mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) within a very few years. The call of the mourning dove used to be rare, but now we hear the call of collared dove every day.
16 Comments
Charley Horse · 19 March 2012
I first saw flocks of these in '93 in South Dade County, Fl. a year after hurricane Andrew. A few years back, a pair of them showed up at my bird feeder in West Tennessee. Haven't seen one since. We still have flocks of mourning doves and dove hunts.
As I recall, the story was the collared dove or ring necks were thought to have migrated from Cuba.
rossum · 19 March 2012
Is it just me, or has that bird been photoshopped onto the background? Its feet seem to be missing, and there are suspicious boundary colours round it, especially round the head and neck.
Paul Burnett · 19 March 2012
rossum said: Is it just me, or has that bird been photoshopped onto the background? Its feet seem to be missing, and there are suspicious boundary colours round it, especially round the head and neck.
I noted the halo ("boundary colours") effect, caused by the fact the the sun is directly behind the bird - the halo is caused by refraction of the sun on the outer transparent edges of the feathers - you can see the same effect with clouds ("silver lining").
And it seems apparent (to me) that the bird's feet are clutching a branch that branches (what else?) away from the dark main branch.
My question: Is that a band visible on the bird's leg?
Matt Young · 19 March 2012
You are both right, in a way. The picture is real, and it is back lighted, so scattering from the feathers outlines the image. It was a grab shot, and the bird was somewhat underexposed, so (to use what may be archaic terminology) I burned it in, but not with Photoshop. Judging by this and a couple of other snapshots, I would say that the bird is sitting on the branch, but I did not burn his feet in properly because they were pretty much the same shade as the branch. I do not see any signs of a band in any of the three photographs, but the birds are somewhat skittish, and I could not get very close to them, so the resolution is poor.
Henry J · 19 March 2012
Ah yes, birds of peace - except for when two of them go after the same bit of food at the same time. :)
Paul Burnett · 19 March 2012
Matt Young said: ...the birds are somewhat skittish, and I could not get very close to them, so the resolution is poor.
We occasionally have band-tailed pigeons (which look remarkably like large doves) around, but they are quite shy and difficult to get a picture of.
Chris Lawson · 19 March 2012
rossum,
Most modern cameras have in-camera image processing and if you set sharpness to high and then crop your image severely, it can look photoshopped. Having said that, I'm sure I saw this dove near Stalin's left shoulder on an old photograph...
Chris Lawson · 19 March 2012
Paul,
That's why birders like ≥300mm lenses.
Chris Lawson · 19 March 2012
Matt,
Underexposed and overexposed are still valid photographic concepts -- it's just that they now refer to the amount of light falling on a CCD instead of a grain of silver, and they can be corrected (to some extent) with post-image processing.
Matt Young · 19 March 2012
Underexposed and overexposed are still valid photographic concepts
Of course they are. The terminology I questioned was "burning in" -- something you used to do by overexposing certain portions of a print in an enlarger. I was obliquely referring to the fact that you don't dodge and burn any more but rather process images.
RM · 20 March 2012
This is a common bird in Scandinavia, called Turkish Dove in many European languages. It is a recent addition to European fauna, having expanded from Turkey about 100 years ago to cover most of Europe today. In Sweden it was first observed in 1949, in Norway 1953, in Great Britain 1960. There is a map in German Wikipedia which shows the expansion until 1973. It is thus grossly out of date.
The North American population seems to descend from birds accidentally released in the Bahamas in the 1970's. I guess you will see more of them in the years to come.
benjamin.cutler · 20 March 2012
Matt Young said:
Of course they are. The terminology I questioned was "burning in" -- something you used to do by overexposing certain portions of a print in an enlarger. I was obliquely referring to the fact that you don't dodge and burn any more but rather process images.
A little OT, but in your own defense, the terminology from film processing is still used in digital image processing: dodge, burn, masks (i.e. unsharp mask) etc.
curtcam · 21 March 2012
I've never seen one of these in N. Texas, but I still get mourning doves and white-winged doves commonly.
Mary H · 22 March 2012
curtcam said:
I've never seen one of these in N. Texas, but I still get mourning doves and white-winged doves commonly.
I live a little south of Dallas and see these occasionaly. I have a pair in my chicken run (totally fenced in) and I think the presence of the female attracts this very large collared dove. We now get a number of dove species including mourning, inca, ground, white wing (flying pigs) and collared. The mix changes from year to year and season to season. I've been trying to figure out if there is a pattern to which ones are seen when. Drought in the Hill Country seems to encourage the Incas and ground doves to move north. But collards are still rare here.
https://me.yahoo.com/a/KKoHMzkup9ExeT2nCG4wyQC1t1bVzEY-#3d4be · 22 March 2012
I saw my first one here in Norman, OK feeding below my bird feeder this morning!
kimbragoochh · 6 April 2012
Their invasion of Europe from Asia began in the mid- 20th century and once they'd arrived, farmyards full of fallen grain and plentiful animal feed were the springboard for a rapid population expansion into our mills, docks and towns. The familiar, repetitive cooing from a pair of collared doves seems pleasant at first, but all too soon becomes irritatingly monotonous to many people. This is especially likely with a feeding flock.
16 Comments
Charley Horse · 19 March 2012
I first saw flocks of these in '93 in South Dade County, Fl. a year after hurricane Andrew.
A few years back, a pair of them showed up at my bird feeder in West Tennessee. Haven't
seen one since. We still have flocks of mourning doves and dove hunts.
As I recall, the story was the collared dove or ring necks were thought to have migrated from
Cuba.
rossum · 19 March 2012
Is it just me, or has that bird been photoshopped onto the background? Its feet seem to be missing, and there are suspicious boundary colours round it, especially round the head and neck.
Paul Burnett · 19 March 2012
Matt Young · 19 March 2012
You are both right, in a way. The picture is real, and it is back lighted, so scattering from the feathers outlines the image. It was a grab shot, and the bird was somewhat underexposed, so (to use what may be archaic terminology) I burned it in, but not with Photoshop. Judging by this and a couple of other snapshots, I would say that the bird is sitting on the branch, but I did not burn his feet in properly because they were pretty much the same shade as the branch. I do not see any signs of a band in any of the three photographs, but the birds are somewhat skittish, and I could not get very close to them, so the resolution is poor.
Henry J · 19 March 2012
Ah yes, birds of peace - except for when two of them go after the same bit of food at the same time. :)
Paul Burnett · 19 March 2012
Chris Lawson · 19 March 2012
rossum,
Most modern cameras have in-camera image processing and if you set sharpness to high and then crop your image severely, it can look photoshopped. Having said that, I'm sure I saw this dove near Stalin's left shoulder on an old photograph...
Chris Lawson · 19 March 2012
Paul,
That's why birders like ≥300mm lenses.
Chris Lawson · 19 March 2012
Matt,
Underexposed and overexposed are still valid photographic concepts -- it's just that they now refer to the amount of light falling on a CCD instead of a grain of silver, and they can be corrected (to some extent) with post-image processing.
Matt Young · 19 March 2012
RM · 20 March 2012
This is a common bird in Scandinavia, called Turkish Dove in many European languages. It is a recent addition to European fauna, having expanded from Turkey about 100 years ago to cover most of Europe today. In Sweden it was first observed in 1949, in Norway 1953, in Great Britain 1960. There is a map in German Wikipedia which shows the expansion until 1973. It is thus grossly out of date.
The North American population seems to descend from birds accidentally released in the Bahamas in the 1970's. I guess you will see more of them in the years to come.
benjamin.cutler · 20 March 2012
curtcam · 21 March 2012
I've never seen one of these in N. Texas, but I still get mourning doves and white-winged doves commonly.
Mary H · 22 March 2012
https://me.yahoo.com/a/KKoHMzkup9ExeT2nCG4wyQC1t1bVzEY-#3d4be · 22 March 2012
I saw my first one here in Norman, OK feeding below my bird feeder this morning!
kimbragoochh · 6 April 2012
Their invasion of Europe from Asia began in the mid-
20th century and once they'd arrived, farmyards full of fallen grain and plentiful animal feed were the springboard for a rapid population expansion into our mills, docks and towns. The familiar, repetitive cooing from a pair of collared doves seems pleasant at first, but all too soon becomes irritatingly monotonous to many people. This is especially likely with a feeding flock.