Doves, expected and unexpected
(click on a photo to enlarge)
THE EXPECTED
Doves can be pretty boring, not that they don’t have a beauty all their own, it’s just that they are so common that it’s easy to take them for granted. Ho hum, another couple dozen doves at the feeders……..
Our year-round resident dove is the ubiquitous Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura). It’s a fairly tame, slightly lethargic bird that is easy prey for hawks, and in this area, bobcats. I know this for a fact because of the piles of dove feathers I find both in and out of the yard. Their gentle nature and soft cooing can be endearing. Take the time to really look at their features and you’ll notice the beautiful eyes, iridescent sheen about the neck and rosy-pink legs and feet.
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), adult
Judging by the sheer number of Mourning Doves that come for seed, they are prolific breeders (up to five broods a year!) despite building what arguably must be the flimsiest nest in the bird world. Note the light “scaling” on the feathers of juvenile Mourning Doves. Within a few months of fledging, juveniles will attain adult plumage.
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), juvenile
You might be tempted to call the above dove an Inca Dove but look at the difference:
Inca Dove (Columbina inca), adult
Notice the dark brown edging on the feathers compared to the white edging on the feathers of the juvenile Mourning Dove. If the Inca Dove were to take flight, you’d see the rufous color of the underwings. The Inca Dove has only appeared in our yard once. A far less common dove here at the edge of Tucson Mountain Park.
Who Cooks For You?
Birding in the East for many years, I’ve come to associate this phrase with the call of the Barred Owl (Strix varia) but the White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica) does a darn good impression of it too and it’s pretty much the dominant birdsong around our house from spring to fall. Despite being described as permanent Southwest residents, we don’t see these birds during the colder months.
Larger than Mourning Doves, a flock of these birds make quite a dent in the bird seed bill.
White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica)
They also have a penchant for cactus fruits, particularly those of the Saguaro and are commonly seen perched atop a ripe fruit.
Besides the obvious “white wings” (actually wing edges), they have a beautiful blue orbital ring around their red-orange iris.
The only other dove I’ve seen in the area is the Ruddy Ground Dove but never in our yard.
THE UNEXPECTED
Imagine my surprise when I looked out a window and saw the “ghost bird” landing on a cactus!
“White Dove”
I immediately jumped to the conclusion that I had an albino Mourning Dove in the yard. I could see the pink eyes and feet. The bird flew from the cactus toward the area where we scatter seed on the ground, just under the kitchen window.
It appeared nervous as it approached the flock of White-winged Doves, Mourning Doves, Gambel’s Quail and House Sparrows but it eventually began to peck at the seed. I noticed that its tail was quivering as it fed. It looked uneasy and out-of-place among the other birds but hunger obviously won out over timidity. As it moved more into the open, I was able to get some close-ups. It was at this point that I noticed a faint brownish band around the collar. This was inconsistent with the bird being an albino.
Note the faint collar on this dove’s neck
A little searching on the web turned up the following information: this bird is the white mutant of the Ringneck Dove (Streptopeli risoria), an introduced species not native to North America. Ringneck Doves have been bred in many color forms white being the most common. They are kept as pet birds or in worst-case scenarios, released at weddings, etc. by unethical people. The sad news is that these birds have no homing instinct, and have no ability to adapt to the wild. In other words, they are doomed. The bird was not banded as you would expect in a captive bird. It’s origin remains a mystery and it never returned.
May 18th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
nice pictures! I think I just saw a white ring-necked dove on my way home from work. It was bright white but looked very dove-like in flight and size. As it flew overhead (I was in my car) the legs looked orange and it definitely had a neck ring. My bird book shows this species, but it was not as white as this one was, but seeing your picture I think that is what it probably was. If it was an albino form of a mourning or Eurasian collared dove, the neck ring wouldn’t appear would it?
August 5th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Thanks for your superb photographs. The white dove is perfect. Ran across it while looking for photos of Gambel’s quail. I saw some near Saddle Brook this April and have been wanting to draw them ever since. I live in Colorado so I don’t have a chance to see them here.) Turns out, the foliage on the photo is as interesting as the dove. May work some of it into my background. And yes, it is a shame that wedding planners look on doves as the equivalent of balloons. The white bird then becomes such an easy target for predators.
July 13th, 2011 at 12:39 am
its funny that i ran across this beutiful picture!back in 1998-2001 i raised turtle doves in tucson az, and every year i slowly let the young go( i was running out of room)they would come back every evening and i would feed them.They stayed together, then they would fly away after about 3 months and i would do the same every 5 months or so. in every brood there was always a albino born,always the fisrt one to hatch,then its sibling was a tan color.i would not let them go for fear that they would not make it.but it runs in the family, i did that untill i had a family of my own,so feeling bad i let them all go.i lived on the north side of tucson and i believe that,that beutiful dove is a decendent of the doves i let go so many times in the years i had them. i visited my moms house where i grew up and raised them.and to my suprise! there is a small flock of them living 8 blocks away near my old house.
July 13th, 2011 at 10:53 am
I guess it’s possible it was a descendant of your doves. As I recall, it was frightened and it was quivering but I guess hunger drove it to visit the feeders despite its fear. I only saw it the one day and I did feel sorry for it because I didn’t think it would survive. After reading your story, maybe it did go back to where it was raised.
July 13th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
they tend to do that alot,quivering is what they do, i noticed it alot when i was raising them,i read in a artical that they tend to look frightened and very nervouse.when i would clean around there cage the would all freez and start shaking,they would put there wings really close to there body and start looking around making a soft coo that warned the others to do the same,like a alarm of some sort.I am raising some now after i told myself i am to old to be raising them again, but i just cant get away that easy.After 9 years i got a pair and in jan 1st 2011 i got my first albino baby! Maybe it was meant to be
August 5th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
A white dove landed in my driveway last month looking for food and water, and I walked right up to the bird and picked it up. It was dehydrated and I have had it indoors now for a month and it has grown and looks happy and bigger. It coos to, It is not a ring neck, I looked. It appears to be an albino. I decided it was better off in captivity then to be re-released. It has a cockatiel and Amazon friend to talk to and look at. What do you think? I think it is an albino, but it was so tame or so weak and now it just likes where it is.
August 20th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
I was just thinking this past winter I’ve never seen a juvenile mourning dove — they don’t come to the feeders I guess until they are almost as big as the Mom and Dad — but it is easy to spot juveniles of other kinds of birds.
Thanks for the photo!