Adrift
This Eurasian Collared Dove is all alone on a piece of driftwood.
You always see doves in pairs, but this little dove was all by itself.
Statler and Waldorf
Every time I see birds on a perch, I’m reminded of these guys:
Ancient
Pigeons clinging to a retrofitted gaslamp in Dubrovnik. This scene looks like it could have been from the 1800s.
That wall was actually built in the 16th century and although that doesn’t make it quite “ancient” it does give a sense of timelessness.
Father
So as the name implies, Eurasian Collared-doves aren’t native to San Diego (or the Americas) but they have done really well here. They are very similar in appearance to Mourning Doves except that they have a black band around the back of their necks. This band reminds me of a priest for reasons I can’t really explain. Maybe it’s because I like to think of all of the other birds attending mass in the trees somewhere.
Crick in the Neck
This Mourning Dove seems to have slept weird. 🙂
The Confusing Dove Situation
Spotted Dove (large) vs Zebra Dove (smaller)
Spotted Dove
Zebra Dove
Darker Zebra Dove
Hawaii has a few more dove species (Mourning, Rock, Spotted, and Zebra) than San Diego does. Although you can see Spotted Doves here, I haven’t had the pleasure yet so I was excited to see them in O’ahu.
I was struck by how much smaller the Zebra Doves are compared to a Spotted Dove (which is similar in size to a Mourning Dove or Pigeon). You can see in the pictures above the size difference. Man, the zebras were everywhere! It’s like Hawaii’s pigeon (although it has those too). The zebras also varied a lot in shade (see above pics) which surprised me.
Birding Ninja 