White-crowned Pigeon

White-crowned Pigeon
Ardastra Gardens, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas
April 2017
Member of the Pigeon and Dove Family
§A Passel of Pigeons§

~true bird fact~ Truly an island bird, White-crowned pigeons nest in an entirely different habitat than they feed in, sometimes flying across entire bodies of water to get from one to the other. They nest mostly in mangrove groves and feed on the fruits of hardwood trees. They're strong fliers, traveling up to 30 miles each way for this commute. It's said they can outpace a speed boat. Is this surprisingly fast? Let's do some math. (All research done using google search)

Pigeons fly at an average speed of 77 mph, which is actually quite fast for a bird. In fact, the fastest self-propelled horizontal flight speed (ie. not in a dive) in the bird kingdom belongs to a member of the pigeon family, the homing pigeon, which has been measured at 110mph (!!). An average bird, say, an unladen swallow, travels at about 30-40mph. An average, not-super-expensive speed boat travels at approx 45mph, so yes, this bird flies a lot faster than a speed boat.  I'm so glad we learned this about pigeons today guys.

How endangered are they? I regret to inform you that these cool, fast pigeons are also rapidly approaching danger, in addition to boats. They are categorized by the IUCN as a 'Vulnerable' species. In other words, they are not quite endangered, but definitely threatened. There are about 7500 nesting pairs in FL, but the real worry is their declining numbers throughout their largely Caribbean range.  They get hunted some, but the biggest threat is lost of their nesting habitat, which often gets cut down to grow crops, especially sugarcane. They're also a bird positioned to be hit especially hard by climate change, since they basically only eat this one type of fruit, and if the seasons go all nuts, that would be a major problem for them.

Always getting IDed, despite being more than old enough
Surprises you with his somewhat old-fashioned views
Prefers to buy used things rather than new things
Fond of idiosyncratic clothing choices (ie. straw pork pie hat)

Doves of Hawaii

Spotted Dove aka. Mountain Dove aka. Pearl-necked Dove aka. Lace-necked Dove aka. Terkurkur (Malay)
Ha'ena Beach Park, Kapaa, Kauai, Hawai'i, USA
December 2015
Native of: India and Southeast Asia
Member of the Dove and Pigeon Family
§A Bevy of Doves§

~true dove fact~ Doves are really distinct among birds in that they actually produce a kind of 'milk' for their chicks, rather than doing the whole partially-digested-food-regurgitation thing. When mating season arrives, both male and female doves have a special gland in their crop that engorges with it. They can feed their young off of this stuff, rather than having to go hunt or forage with chicks in the nest. This strategy means that doves only lay one or two eggs at a time, rather than a whole mess of em'. Evolutionarily, this seems to have worked out for doves.

Gets in a big huff over minor breaches of etiquette
Professorial. Or, more critically, a mansplainer
Loves whiskey, bacon, and tobacco, but not in a hipster kind of way
Friends with your boss

Zebra Dove aka. Barred Ground Dove
Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, Hawai'i, USA
December 2015
Native of: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore
Member of the Dove and Pigeon Family
§A Dule of Doves§

~true bird fact~ Quite popular as a captive bird, they are considered to bring good luck to their home in their native Thailand. This may explain how they've spread to so many places, including Hawai'i. They are such a part of the cultural fabric in Thailand, that people bring out their doves for annual cooing competitions.

Scrappy, street-smart
Well prepared for disasters or misfortunes
A natural whiz at figuring out public transportation
Keen observer of human nature. Armchair psychologist

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Eurasian Collared Dove
Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz, California, USA
September 2015
Member of the Dove and Pigeon Family
§A Dole of Doves§


{Etymology Corner} Well, it's a dove native to Eurasian and it has this collar, so it appears to be case closed. Not so fast, gentle blog reader, there's more. We're finally delving (perhaps inadvisably) into the world of scientific names for this one. Streptopeleia decaocto is her name, and there are some interesting notes here. The first part, Stepto-whatever is just Latin for "Collared Dove". However, Decaocto is a name of Greek Mythological origin. She was a servant girl whose life was so terrible that the gods turned her into a dove so she could fly away from her whole existence. Thanks gods. It is said that this Dove's mournful cry is her weeping (you know the cry, you confuse it for an owl). Wikipedia disagrees, however, stating that Decaocto was chosen because it is phonologically similar to the coo-COO-coo cry. Uhhh... nice try, but I'm going to stick with the myth.


~true bird fact~ This bird, as you may have gathered from the name, is not a native species. It came to the US through the Bahamas after a pet store was robbed in the 80's and some of the birds escaped (of course a pet store in the Bahamas was robbed in the 80's). By 1982 the bird was spotted in Florida, and, spreading quickly, it was all the way in California by 2001. Now the bird is nearly everywhere in the states, some heading as far north as Alaska. The theory is that the Collared Dove was able to expand her range so quickly because she is filling a biological niche left by the extinction of the Carrier Pigeon. I, for one, am really proud of the Collared Dove and take a pro Collared Dove stance. Sometimes you just come upon a bird with a real interesting narrative. Or even two in this case. It's always a nice surprise.

Birds of Costa Rica: All the rest pt. 3

Three weeks ago I promised you guys I'd wrap up these Costa Rica birds, but like Peter Jackson I underestimated the size of the project and ended up stretching what should have been a simple story into a trilogy. I won't keep you waiting any longer, nor will I be adding bad CGI orks unnecessarily. Unlike a Peter Jackson movie, this series is actually going to end. Check out parts one and two if you need to catch up. Onward to birds!

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher aka. Texas bird-of-paradise aka. Swallow-tailed Flycatcher (
Tirano-tijereta rosado)
Playa Conchal, Costa Rica
Member of the Flycatcher Family 
★State Bird of Oklahoma★ (on the state quarter even!)
§A Pinking of Flycatchers§

~true bird fact~ Scissor-tailed Flycatchers sometimes wander far, far outside of their normal range during migration seasons. Normally only found in Texax, Kansas, and Oklahoma, they have been spotted in southern Canada and as far east as Florida. I guess they must get confused.

Appears to ask you confounding riddles or impossible thought problems and then disappears before you can answer.

Black-headed Trogon
Parque Nacional Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Member of the Trogons and Quetzals Family

~true bird fact~ Can turn his head 180 degrees, like an owl. Also, makes his home in arboreal hanging termite nests. What a strange guy.

 Loves to relax

Inca Dove (tórtola cola larga (lit. Long Tailed Dove) o tortolita mexicana (lit. Little Mexican Dove)
Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Member of the Pidgeons and Doves Family
★Does not, in fact, live anywhere in the former Incan Empire★
§A Cote of Doves§

~true bird fact~ In winter, these doves have an unusual way of keeping warm. They form a dove-pyramid of up to 12 birds. Boy I wish I could see that.

Has an international mindset. Reads a lot of different news papers.

Birds of Costa Rica: All the rest pt. 1

Hello blog fans. As some of you know, I went to Costa Rica this past winter and have been blogging my bird finds from there intermittently for the past months. But I never seem to run out, and every time I do the blog I have to think "should I do a Costa Rica bird again?" I'm tired of having all these birds hanging over my head like some kind of squawking sword of Damocles. They are a veritable albatross around my neck (of non albatross birds). Today we say No More. So between this week and next, we will be posting all the remaining birds of Costa Rica.

White-winged Dove (tórtola aliblanca)
Playa Conchal, Costa Rica
Member of the Dove Family
§A Bevy of Doves§

~true bird fact~ This bird feeds its chicks not with regurgitated foods, but with a special substance it produces in a gland in its throat called 'crop milk' (ew). They have to eat snails and bone shards to produce it (double ew). They are also super into cacti and will time their migrations to coincide with their fruiting.

An intrepid bird reporter

Great-tailed Grackle aka Mexican Grackle (zanate mexicano o clarinero)
Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Member of the Blackbird/Oriole Family
★Official Bird of Cartagena, Columbia★
 §A Cackle of Grackles§ (unverif.)

~real bird myth~ In Mexico there is a legend that it has seven songs. "In the creation, the Zanate having no voice, stole its seven distinct songs from the wise and knowing sea turtle. You can now hear the Zanate's vocals as the Seven Passions (Love, Hate, Fear, Courage, Joy, Sadness, and Anger) of life." Mexican artisans have created icons in clay, sometimes as whistles that portray the sea turtle with the Zanate perched on its back.


  A total goofball who loves messing around

Clay-colored Thrush aka. Clay-colored Robin (yigüirro)
Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Member of the Thrush Family
§A Worm of Robins§
★National Bird of Costa Rica★

~real bird myth~ The songs of the Yigüirro are said to start the rainy season in Costa Rican folklore, thus his important position in that country.

Inspires dignity in others

Christmas Special: Turtle Dove

Turtle Dove aka. Mourning Dove aka. Rain Dove
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Member of the Pigeons/Doves Family
*true bird fact*~ The most hunted of all birds, in some years as many as 70 million will be shot in the US alone. Wow, that's terrible!

A delicate, artistic type
Spends a surprising amount of time on the internet
Genteel and soft-spoken, to the point of sometimes speaking too softly
Really does want to help
Pretends she hates that one Christmas song that she's in, but actually kind of enjoys it

Bird Talks: The Photogenic Pigeons of Toronto

 Pigeons, official bird of the City. They are interesting for a number of reasons.
They are, perhaps, the most reviled bird there is. Unsurprisingly, we (the amateurnithologist) believe this to be the result of a deep misunderstanding and find quite a lot to like about them.

One thinks of a pigeon, on first blush, as being the closest analogue the bird kingdom has to a homeless person, a drifter. Often poorly groomed, vaguely sick looking, probably addicted to drugs.

But let's not forget- pigeons are marvelously adaptive and have succeeded in living among humans to an admirable extent. It is not their word that is dirty, dangerous, infectious, poisoned. It is ours.

I think pigeons are really more like naturalists or anthropologists. They enter into our world and do their best to blend in. They are observing us in our natural environment. So next time you judge a pigeon, remember, he may be judging you right back.

With an opinion,
Amateurnithologist

Rock Dove aka Rock Pigeon aka 'Pigeon'
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Member of the Doves/Pigeons Family
*true bird fact*~ The bird with the second longest relationship with human beings, Rock Doves have been domesticated for over 5000 years. That's just slightly shorter than the horse.