The Dove Invasion

The native doves that live in our area are Mourning Doves -- rather demure and retiring.  I don't know when I began noticing it -- sometime in the past year or so -- but, they definitely seemed louder, brasher and larger.  Bruce is the one who finally did some research and discovered that the doves around the house weren't Mourning Doves anymore, but Eurasian Collared Doves.

They somehow turned up in Florida in the mid 1970s and have since spread exponentially across the US.  They are, to put it mildly, very successful in their new home.

Bruce took some remarkable pictures of them landing at our grain pan.  They are magnificent (in a dovey sort of way).  Researchers say that the Eurasian Doves don't appear to be driving out our native species.  I hope that they're right.