| Collared Dove a
guest in area By Jay V. Huner Journal Correspondent |
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During the past decade a large gray dove with a square tail and a broken, black half collar on its neck has swept into our piney woods region from Florida. The Eurasian Collared-Dove is native to the Middle East and extended its range into Europe in the last century. Collared-doves are popular pets. About 25 years or so ago, some collared-doves escaped from cages in the Bahamas. Their offspring subsequently migrated to Florida and expanded their range throughout the South. Collared-doves are now very common in open areas in our piney woods. They congregate around residential buildings and rural farm complexes. So, many people see them but they do not seem to forage in agricultural fields with our native doves, especially Mourning Doves. As a result, they are not all that common in hunting bags unless hunters find areas around structures where they can legally hunt! Most southern states allow hunters to shoot as many collared-doves as they are able to kill but only during open dove hunting seasons. Texas, however, permits year round hunting and no limits as well. It is critical for dove hunters to check current regulations before shooting collared-doves. For example, in Louisiana, all collared-doves being transported from hunting sites to home must have at least one fully feathered wing and a head or they are counted as "doves" in the regular dove limit. All doves including collared-doves feed "pigeon milk" to their nestlings. This is produced by special tissues in their crops. Nests are very flimsy affairs of cobbled together twigs and sticks. Collared-doves may nest as many as 6 times in a year producing 1-2 eggs each time. Most doves and pigeons coo. The collared-dove has a unique, repeated two phase call. Two sharp coos are followed by another coo after a very brief pause - coo-coo - coo. When the males are courting females, they utter a very coarse call as they flutter down after flying upward in a steep climb with noisy wing beats. Courting collared-doves engage in a highly ritualized pattern of bowing. Collared-doves feed primarily on grain lost or spilled during harvests. It should come as no surprise, then, that they congregate around grain bins. It has been my experience that the way collared-doves perch on power lines helps to distinguish them from our native Mourning Doves. Collared-doves most often perch with their bodies horizontal to the ground - square tails. Mourning Doves most often perch with their bodies in a vertical position relative to the ground - pointed tails. We have five dove species that nest in our piney woods - Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove and Common Ground-Dove. Collared-doves are the only exotic species. White-winged Doves are similar in size to collared-doves but have very conspicuous white bands on their wings. Inca Doves and Common Ground-Doves are very small, less than half the size of collared-doves. Chances are that all the readers of this article can find all five of these birds if they look hard enough. But, despite its name, Common Ground-Doves are the rarest of the five species! It received its common name many years ago when it was, indeed, a common bird in our region! Jay V. Huner, Louisiana Ecrevisse |
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