While out helping with the New Ulm CBC today I temporarily left the count to look for Eurasian Collared-Doves in the town of Hanska. There was a sizeable flock found on the south side of the elevator. Some of the birds were perched in a row of trees while others were flying to and from an area to the east where there is corn on the ground in an open grain bunker. Anyway, there were a total of 20 doves that I was able to count but there may have been more. One of the doves that I noticed perched in a tree was very pale colored. In fact, the more I looked at it the more I thought it might be a Ringed Turtle-Dove. I suppose there's a possibility that it could be a hybrid with a Eurasian Collared-Dove but if it is it's difficult for me to see any Collared-Dove characteristics in this bird. The undertail coverts were primarily white with the small black triangular markings that Sibley shows for the Turtle-Dove. As I wrote, this bird was very pale and stood out compared to the other Collared-Doves in the flock. It was a buffy-white color overall on the wings, back and tail. Ringed Turtle-Doves are smaller than Collared-Doves but I didn't really notice this bird being smaller than the other Doves that were present. Unfortuately I didn't have a camera along so I didn't get a picture of it. If any other birders are interested in looking for this Dove, I would welcome any comments on what they think it is.
Brian Smith Sleepy Eye ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
