Inca Dove

 Doves are not one of the families of birds that one thinks of when they think of birds that are cool, attractive or sexy. However even though it is pretty plain as far as color goes I think that the scaled look of the feathers makes the Inca Dove look pretty cool.

Inca doves are native to Mexico and Central America. In the US they are found along the southern border of Mexico in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They live in arid climates where they eat seeds that they find primarily by foraging on the ground.Inca doves will sometimes roost by standing on top of one another like a pyramid. This behavior is similar to the Harris Hawk in the last post that will also perch on one another.

Inca Dove

 The Inca dove is a species of  dove that is found in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico and parts of Central America. Since this bird nests in tropical climates it is not migratory. They can often be seen foraging on the ground for seeds. They are also known for perching together in a pyramid form with birds perched on the backs of others up to three levels high. In 2007 an Inca dove got really mixed up and ended up in Two Harbors Minnesota at the beginning of winter. Needless to say a tropical bird does not have much chance of surviving a Minnesota winter. So after a few weeks of being viewed and photographed by birders throughout the north the bird disappeared and presumably perished. That was my first experience with an Inca dove since then I have photographed them in Texas where they are fairly common.

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.
Because 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.

Hugh Ramsey Nature Park

After spending our first couple of days in Texas down in the South Padre/ Brownsville area we headed north on Monday, March 1st. We were spending the night in Kingsville, we had reservations at the King Ranch the following day, and decided to stop at the Hugh Ramsey Nature Park in Harlingen on our way.

Once part of a landfill, this 55 acre park was reclaimed and replanted with native foliage by local environmental groups. Trails now run through the Texas ebony woodlands and around the arroyo waterways. Part of the park, the Ebony Trail has been developed as a series of themed botanical gardens, this includes medicinal plants, hummingbird and butterfly gardens just to name a few.

The Hugh Ramsey Nature Park along with the 40 acre Harlingen Thicket combine as the Harlingen Arroyo Colorado, a satellite of the World Birding Center. At the time that we visited we did not see a lot of birds however we did see some interesting ones, including a black-crested titmouse, two different types of thrashers, a great kiskadee and the inca dove pictured above.

Even though we did not see that many birds we did see more butterflies at this location then we did at any other that we visited in Texas. Most of the butterflies that we saw and photographed are not found in Minnesota so it was exciting. I have photographed the pipevine swallowtail at the butterfly exhibit at the Como Zoo but this was the first time that I have seen one in the wild.

We had a total of 5 lifer butterflies that we photographed in Hugh Ramsey. One was the gulf fritillary that is in the photo above.

One kind of strange thing that we found in the park was this sculpture. I am not sure who did it or what its meaning is. There were 7 egg shaped rocks in the sand and then a skeleton of what appears to be a bird on the wall behind. It was certainly different.

Why go to Texas when Texas birds seem to be coming here.

Each year during the long Minnesota winter, Michelle and I go away for a week to some place that's a bit more warm and sunny for a vacation. I like to go places where I can see some birds that I don't get to see at home and Michelle likes to go any where that is warm, except places with a desert climate like Arizona or New Mexico. This year I went to the Bosque del Apache, in New Mexico, in January, by myself, and Michelle and I went to Monterey, Ca in February. I plan to post some pictures from these trips during the slower winter months so stay tuned.

We have begun to look at where we would like to go next year and one of the locations that we have been contemplating is south east Texas. We visited Texas back in the winter of 2004 and had a great time. There are many birds in south Texas that you just can't usually see anywhere else in the US. This is not as true this year as in years past. With in the past month 2 birds which are typically Texas natives have shown up here in Minnesota.

First one was the black-bellied whistling duck that showed up at the beginning of November here in the Twin Cities. This was not the first black-bellied whistling duck to visit Minnesota but they certainly are very rare here. I was able to get out and see it before it decided to head off to a better climate. Here is the post that I did with the pictures http://ecobirder.blogspot.com/2007/11/black-bellied-whistling-duck-at.html.

Later that same week reports came out that an Inca dove had been spotted up in Two Harbors. This was the first one recorded in Minnesota so I had to go up and see it. Here is the post that I did on the Inca dove http://ecobirder.blogspot.com/2007/11/first-ever-inca-dove-reported-in.html.

This past week the Minnesota press finally caught on about the importance of the Inca dove sitting. Minnesota Public Radio did an interview with Jim Lind who was the birder who first spotted the dove. The Minneapolis Star Tribune also did a story on the dove. However not all the press has been good, a local Twin Cities radio station 107.1 FM had their morning show, Ian and Magery, interview Sharon Stiteler, AKA birdchick. I did not hear the interview but several people that I know, who heard the interview, have made comments to me about how the hosts came off as condescending, even though Sharon did a great job at defending us birders. I guess I don't have to worry about listening to that station, I prefer to listen to the Stephanie Miller Show in the morning anyways.

Both the whistling-duck and Inca dove are fairly common in Texas and if we do decide to go there we will prolly see many of them but will not be the same. I am sure that it would sound geeky to Ian and Magery and they would prolly laugh at me, but going to see a bird, that made a miraculous trip to be the first one of it's kind to visit a new area, is kind of like getting to see a famous explorer or someone who went to the moon.

A trip to Texas this winter still would be worth it, after all we still have not seen a golden-fronted woodpecker here in Minnesota yet.

We will need to decide soon so that I can start making the reservations.

First ever Inca dove reported in Minnesota

Last week while I was chasing after the black-bellied whistling duck, a rare visitor to Minnesota, reports of another rare bird where flooding the MOU list server. An Inca dove had been spotted by Jim Lind up in Two Harbors, MN. This was the first Inca dove ever reported in Minnesota so most of the Minnesota birding community was very excited. I could not make the trip up to Two Harbors, which is on the north shore of Lake Superior about 20 miles north east of Duluth, during the week because of work and my volunteer responsibilities. So I planned to drive up Friday after work and stay over night.

I arrived in Two Harbors on Friday at about 4 pm. I quickly found the neighborhood where the dove had been hanging out, it was just a couple blocks north of the light house. The dove had been seen in a residential area feeding on seed under feeders between about 5 houses. Fortunately all of the yards that the dove was visiting could be viewed from an ally or the street, so that no one had to disturb any ones private property to see it. That was a good thing considering how many birders were making the trip to see the bird. I was not alone in my search there were 4 other birders also poking around.

On Friday night we spotted a dove hanging out with the neighborhood pigeons that looked like the right color and had a scaly look to it. We thought we had the birds in our sites but on closer examination we found that it was actually a very scruffy mourning dove.This mourning dove did not look like your typical mourning dove, with it's feathers all poofed out, but the tail was pointed and not square, it had markings on the wings, and it was the wrong size and had the wrong eye color so we knew that it was definitely a mourning dove and not the Inca dove. Later on one of the birder found the Inca dove in the evergreens at the house on the corner but before I could get a focus on the area it took off and went into a tall spruce tree where it were Jim believed that it had been roosting most nights. So I left and went and found a hotel to stay the night. The next morning I got up early and went down to the shore of Lake Superior, near the light house, to take some pictures of the sun as it rose over the big lake.
After it got light enough to shoot, shortly before 9am, I headed back to the houses which the dove had been spotted. I found the dove on the ground feeding at the corner house.

I got a few Pics before it flew back into the evergreens. I then went down to the small park over by the light house. I did some birding down there, which I will post later, and then returned back to get more pictures of the dove. This time the bird was perched in a mountain ash at the 5th house of the block which belongs to Jim Lind, the person who first spotted it.

I almost missed it, another birder had told me that it was in the tree but when I got there I saw the mourning dove perched there. Actually both birds where perched in the same tree but the mourning dove was in front, with the Inca dove not as visible because it was further back, and so I thought that the other birder had made the same mistake that we had made Friday night. When I found the Inca dove further back in the tree it was easy to tell the difference between the two.Several other birders came while it was perched in the tree and I was happy to help point out its location. Even a couple of local people, who were not birders but had seen all of us crazy birders walking around, came and asked me what was going on. I showed them the bird and told them about how rare it was to see one in Minnesota. Even though they were not birders they were excited and talked about how they were going to tell there friends how they had seen this rare bird.Many of the people who I were watching the bird with me had made the trek up from the Twin Cities, like I did, and most were not disappointed by the bird who was pretty good about staying in the area for over a week and cooperative about posing where we could all get good looks. After a sitting in the tree for quite a while the dove moved back down to the ground to get some more seed to eat.I took a couple more pics of it on the ground and then headed back down to light house point to try and find a black backed or three toed woodpecker.