Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Inca Dove

Inca dove The Inca dove is a bird found in the south western United States, Mexico, and most of Central America. Like most doves they are a ground forager eating primarily seeds and other vegetation. They can be distinguished from other types of doves by the dark outlines of their feathers which gives them a scaled look.
Inca doveBecause Inca doves live in a warm climate they do not really migrate but every once in a while birds get lost. That is what happened to the bird in the second photo. The first photo was taken in Texas while the second was taken in Minnesota. In 2007 an Inca dove showed up at a feeder on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Two Harbors, MN. While Inca doves are very common in Texas this was the first one seen in Minnesota and people came from all around, including neighboring states to see this "rare" bird. Unfortunately things did not end well for the bird. Since these birds do not usually migrate it stayed around but it was not prepared to handle a Minnesota winter.


6 comments:

Meryl said...

Beautiful bird, sorry to hear about the migrating mishap. At least that bird touched those who were lucky enough to see it.

Have a great week.

Kay L. Davies said...

Sad, to think of the poor little southern dove in Minnesota. So beautiful, with the outlined feathers!
K

photowannabe said...

A sad ending to the gentle bird.
We have lots of morning doves and rock doves in our area.

Roger Owen Green said...

Well, the weather's going, Minnesota weather WILL be like current Texas weather.
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Ann said...

WOW, Minnesota-thats quite a trip. I'm sure the weather was a shock to him. Great pictures.
Ann

Gattina said...

I have never seen such a dove ! It has such nice feathers !
Gattina
ABC team