Greetings All,
Though Sibley shows female "eastern" (or nominate) Common Ground-Doves having blue-gray crowns and rosy on the face, the following is from the Birds of North America account: Sexes dimorphic. Male deeper vinaceous pink on forehead and neck and bluish gray on nape and hindcrown. Wing-spotting iridescent dark blue purplish. Female lacks rosy color to head and neck; in general, paler underneath than male. Wing-spotting paler coppery brown in female. This agrees with depictions in the Nat'l Geo Guide and and the photos in Crossley's guide. So... I have yet to check Pyle, but I suspect that the Julesburg ground-dove is a male. As to race. For the western pallescens: sw. U.S. from s. California east to s. and central Texas south through Mexico to Pacific lowlands of Honduras and for the eastern nominate rece: Resident se. U.S. from extreme se. Texas east through Gulf states north to N. Carolina. As for distinguishing between the two races, this is what is said for the eastern birds: Male has scaled, pink chin with a deep-vinaceous throat and breast; female with more prominent scaling on breast, side of the throat, malar region, and auriculars than does C. p. pallescens female. plumage differs between C. p. passerina and C. p. pallescens . Both sexes of pallescens paler overall than passerina . Paler background feathers accentuate scaling, even though scaling in passerina more prominent, especially in female. Female passerina shows more extensive scaling on side of throat, malar region, and auriculars, but overlap exists So, in the end, I am not at all certain how one would tell eastern from western birds, though looking through a good spectrum of photos for comparison may be of help. The bird did not strike me as that different from western birds that I am used to seeing in Baja California, but I never got a good frontal view, and the bird was not in sunlight as the Baja birds nearly always are. Cheers Steven Mlodinow Longmont CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
