A New Feathered Friend In Nanaimo

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Last year was the first time I heard a new coo-coo sound in the neighbourhood and at first thought it might be a Mourning Dove but it turns out our new feathered friends are a pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves.

These doves are very timid and shy and while I caught a glimpse of them last year, never really saw enough to make a sure identification. This year however, they seem to find our feeders of enough interest to overcome some of their shyness.

This fellow/gal was checking out the feeder and just about the time they were ready to sample the fare along came this other fellow and off the dove flew. I am looking forward to more frequent visits over the summer as they seemed to be in the area most of last year and thier soothing cooing is quite pleasant.

Band-tailed Pigeon

While both of these feathered friends are of the dove/pigeon family they are not to be confused with the garden-variety pigeons you find in large numbers in city parks and hovering over statues. The Eurasian collared-dove was introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970's and finally made it's way to Florida in the 1980's and since then has pretty much colonized most of North America.

The Band-tailed pigeon is common in forests of the Pacific coast and the Southwest. While sociable they are definitely more timid than the common pigeon and not as numerous.

While I like to see both of the above visitors simply because they are a bit unique, the common pigeons I tend to try and discourage as they seem to have an insatiable appetite and will feed until their crop looks near bursting. They would simply eat us out of house and home if encouraged. The other two varieties are however most welcome.