Dove

August 29, 2023

I have mentioned Melissa’s home office in the kitchen nook has a bay window looking onto the back patio/pool.  She usually has the blinds up to allow her to watch the bird and squirrel activity, but with the warm weather she has been keeping the blinds down to stave off the heating rays of the sun.  Since it has cooled the last few days, she has again opened the blinds.  While the pool is not usable, it still holds water that seeps through the tarp cover and creates a shallow pool.  During our long dry heat, one of the squirrels discovered this oasis and has taken to crawling down the sloping sides of the tarp to get a drink of water.  The squirrel drops down from an overhanging tree branch. Scurries along the top and then down the side of the fence, over the deck and then down the tarp for a drink.  The squirrel then reverses this same route to get back into his tree.  Yesterday, however, a collared dove perched on the fence blocking the squirrels return path and creating a standoff.  I watched as the squirrel and dove both stood their ground and refused to move.

When I looked online, I found the Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto) is a species native to Europe and Asia, but that has been introduced to Japan, North America, and islands in the Caribbean.  The generic name is from the Ancient Greek streptos meaning “collar” and peleia meaning “dove”, and the epithet decaoct is Greek for “eighteen”.  The Eurasian collared dove is a medium-sized dove, is smaller than the wood pigeon (Columba palumbus), is similar in length to a rock or common pigeon (Columba liviabut) but slimmer and longer-tailed, and is slightly larger than the related European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur).  The collared dove has an average length of 13 inches (32 cm) from tip of beak to tip of tail, a wingspan of 19 to 22 inches (47 to 55 cm), and a weight of 4.4 to 8.5 ounces (125–240 g).  This dove is grey-buff to pinkish grey in overall color, a little darker above than below, and with a blue-grey underwing patch.   The marking on its nape is the black half-collar edged with white which gives the dove its name.  The two sexes are virtually indistinguishable.

The Eurasian collared dove was introduced to the wild in North America when fewer than 50 birds escaped captivity in the Bahamas.  The species then spread to Florida and is now found in nearly every state in the US, as well as Mexico.  The dove was first sighted in my state of Arkansas in 1989, and its numbers have grown until it is now present in 42 of 75 of the state’s counties.  The dove spread from the southeastern corner of the state in 1997 to the northwestern corner in five years, covering 310 miles (500 km) at a rate of 62 miles (100 km) per year.  This is more than double the rate of 28 miles (45 km) per year observed in Europe.  Few negative impacts have been demonstrated in Florida, where the species is most prolific, but the species is known as an aggressive competitor and there is concern that as populations continue to grow, native birds will be outcompeted by the invaders.  At least one study found the Eurasian doves are no more aggressive or competitive than native mourning doves.

Thoughts:  The number in the species name of the dove comes from a Greek myth about a maid who worked hard and was unhappy she was only paid 18 coins a year.  She begged the gods to let the world know how little she was rewarded by her mistress causing Zeus to create this dove that calls out “Deca-octo”.  The dove is not wary and often feeds very close to human habitation, including visiting the bird feeders in my yard.  I watched as the dove stood its ground until joined by two blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata).  Together they proved too much for the squirrel and he scampered down the fence and back along the ground to his tree.  Like the girl in the myth and the birds on my fence, the vulnerable can beat great odds when we band together.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.