320. Eurasian Collared-Dove

Trend for Eurasian Collared-Dove from BC Christmas Bird Count data 2003-2017.

It finally happened this morning, our early morning bird count gave us a calling Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto ) calling almost constantly for over a half an hour.  Our first record of this species was from October of 2012 and up until now, Eurasian Collared-Doves here have been short term visitors that stop in for a few hours at the most and then move on, but this morning's bird clearly was on territory and calling incessantly  to prove it. 

​Eurasian Collared-Doves are relatively recent arrivals to North America.  After spreading from southeast Asia through the middle east and into Europe in the 1900s, they were introduced in the Bahamas from Europe in the 1970s. From there they  spread on their own to North America with the first breeding record in southern Florida in 1982 and records from southern Vancouver Island by the early 2000s.  Their spread has been primarily to the west and to the north, and it has been rapid indeed.  This feederwatch website has an animated figure that shows just how fast this species colonized much of  North America.  Christmas Bird counts for British Columbia show also show a rapidly increasing number;

Given that Mourning Doves only recently set up shop here at Leaning Oaks (see 310. Mourning Dove) it will be interesting to see how the two species interact in the future.

---

---