Doves

["William J. Hunter" <dixiewili at redrock dot net>]

Well, the old man has now seen the doves too. I went out this evening around
5pm and stayed between Telegraph Rd. and the I-15 Freeway on Main in
Washington City.

Birds were first spotted in a partially dead tree on the west side of the
street. There there were two American Robins and two White-winged Doves.
Then appearing on the "high line" wires on the east side of the road was one
Eurasian Collared-Dove. I noticed a hawk like silhouette in the distance in
a dead tree. Upon investigating it turned out to be a "Prairie" Merlin and
during my observations, he was attempting to snare a White-wing. He was
unsuccessful.

In total I saw 5 Eurasians and 7 White-wings, in the course of 30 minutes.
Most all sharing the power lines with a large group of Starlings.

I paid particular attention to separating the Eurasians from the Ringed
Turtle-Dove found in LA, a bird I've had experience with in the past. I must
say, a good scope pinpointed the dark proximal coloring on the tail and the
very dark primaries, eliminating Ringed Turtle.

The White-winged Doves were not concerned with my presence, but the
Collared-Doves kept turning as if to watch me and even turning their body
completely around so as to "keep an eye on me", hence their behavior
indicated to me that they were more concerned about my presence. The
neighbors and one policeman were also a bit concerned about my presence, but
didn't interfere :-)

While all our attention has been riveted to the Collared-Doves, I find the
population of White-winged Doves to be pretty exciting, at this place, at
this time of year. Were it not for the Collared-Doves, the White-wings would
be getting all the press.

Enjoy the chase.

Bill Hunter
St. George

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