Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Pigeon Post

I’m rained off again today, so here’s a post about three members of the pigeon family of birds. 

Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae, which includes about 310 species in the world as a whole. The terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably. In ornithological practice, "dove" tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones, but this is not consistently applied, and historically, the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the terms. 

We know all about Collared Doves Streptopelia decaocto here in the UK. The spread of Collared Doves across the United Kingdom from mainland Asia and Europe was very rapid. From the first breeding report in Norfolk in 1955 the species was subsequently reported breeding in Kent and Lincolnshire in 1957, with birds seen as far north as Scotland. Two years later Ireland was colonised and by 1970 there may have been as many as 15,000 - 25,000 pairs in Britain and Ireland. The BTO Common Birds Census revealed a five-fold increase in their population between 1972 and 1996 until some levelling off in the 1990s. By the Millennium and into the summer of 2014 the population stabilised at about 980,000 pairs. 

Collared Dove - Europe and Asia

Collared Dove

Now there’s news that the Collared Dove continues its spread into North America and Canada, with reports this winter of Eurasian Collared Doves in Calgary, Alberta, North West Canada. "We counted 38 on this year's Christmas bird count, and really in two spots. One of them here in Forest Lawn and the other over in Dover," said Phil Cram, with the Calgary Christmas Bird Count. They have been expanding throughout southern Alberta for the last 13 years, since they first turned up." 

"This kind of habitat exists throughout the city, but once a pair establish here and have young and so on and so forth, that's how a little population will grow, and then from here they will undoubtedly radiate out," he said. So I would expect in 10 years’ time, we will see hundreds of these on our Christmas bird count." 

Eurasian Collared Doves made their way to North America via the Bahamas, where several birds escaped from a pet shop during a mid-1970s burglary; the shop owner then released the rest of the flock of approximately 50 doves. Others were set free on the island of Guadeloupe when a volcano threatened eruption. From these two sites the birds spread north through Florida, and now occur over most of North America. In a matter of approximately 30 years this dove has been sighted in southern Ontario, west, across the southern portions of the prairies, to a few sighting in Alaska, to southern California, east, across all the states to the tip of southern Florida, north to the US and Canadian Atlantic border. Collared Doves are now seen through all of Mexico, and into Central America. 

Collared Dove - North America

Just as in the UK, North American people helped make the Collared Dove at home. Bird feeders and trees planted in urban and suburban areas are cited as two of the main factors in the species’ colonization of the continent. Of a global breeding population of circa 8 million, 5% are estimated to live in the United States. 

Studies in North America on interactions between Collared Doves and other species have not yet shown a negative impact on populations of native birds, including the Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura, a related species that could be seen as a competitor in the food stakes. 

Mourning Dove - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 

The number of individual Mourning Doves in North America is estimated at approximately 475 million. That large population and its vast range explain why the Mourning Dove is considered to be of least concern, meaning that the species is not at immediate risk and a legitimate target for hunters. As a North American gamebird it is estimated that 20 million (and up to 40–70 million) Mourning Doves are shot by hunters each year. 

As an introduced species, Eurasian Collared Doves are not protected from hunting and like the endemic Mourning Dove, the newcomer has become a popular game birds in rural areas of the Southeast and Texas. I trawled the Internet but couldn’t find any information on the number of Collared Doves taken by hunters in North America. 

The Mourning Dove and the Collared Dove are two distinct species related species to the Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius, another member of the dove/pigeon bird family. The Passenger Pigeon was hunted to extinction in America in the early 1900s, from a population numbering in the billions. The last confirmed wild bird is thought to have been shot in 1901. 

Passenger Pigeon - extinct circa 1900

Via Wiki - Today, more than 1,532 Passenger Pigeon skins (along with 16 skeletons) are in existence, spread across many institutions all over the world. It has been suggested that the Passenger Pigeon should be revived when available technology allows it (a concept which has been termed "de-extinction"), using genetic material from such specimens. In 2003, the Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica, a subspecies of the Spanish ibex) was the first extinct animal to be cloned back to life; the clone lived for only seven minutes before dying of lung defects. 

A hindrance to cloning the Passenger Pigeon is the fact that the DNA of museum specimens has been contaminated and fragmented, due to exposure to heat and oxygen. American geneticist George M. Church has proposed that the passenger pigeon genome can be reconstructed by piecing together DNA fragments from different specimens. The next step would be to splice these genes into the stem cells of Rock Pigeons which would then be transformed into egg and sperm cells, and placed into the eggs of Rock Pigeons, resulting in Rock Pigeons bearing Passenger Pigeon sperm and eggs. The offspring of these would have Passenger Pigeon traits, and then would be further bred to favour unique features of the extinct species. 

The general idea of re-creating extinct species has been criticised, since the large funds needed could be spent on conserving currently threatened species and habitats, and because conservation efforts might be viewed as less urgent. In the case of the Passenger Pigeon, since it was very social, it is unlikely that enough birds could be created for revival to be successful, and it is unclear whether there is enough appropriate habitat left for its reintroduction. Furthermore, the parent pigeons that would raise the cloned Passenger Pigeons would belong to a different species, with a different way of rearing young. 

I'm hoping to get out birding soon and to try out my new camera. 


Log in soon and see how I do. 

In the meantime, linking to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.



20 comments:

  1. Enjoy the new camera (7D MK2?). Maybe Collared Doves will reach Japan one day..........

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  2. First the glitzy dashboard timepiece and now the new camera. Your wealth knows no bounds Sladester! As for the Passenger Pigeon, I have just organized a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum's ornithological collection for one of our Tuesday morning rambles in March. I hope to see a Passenger Pigeon there. Our outing this morning was cancelled due to inclement weather, but everyone is coming here at lunchtime for homemade soup. I made three soups and Miriam made her world class oatmeal bread, Mary is bringing brownies, we have cookies left over from Christmas....should be quite a feast! Good food, good friends and a yakfest about birds. It doesn't get much better than that.

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  3. Hello, sorry you have been rained out. I have seen the Collared Dove here in the states. They are pretty doves. Congrats on your new camera, enjoy! Have a great day!

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  4. A new camera!!! Awesome.
    Here, it is sunny, warm, but high winds so I stay home and help Bud build shelves for the closets. Bummer.

    I didn't realize that with ornithology terms dove/pigeon is more or less considered according to size. That I learned, thanks to you.

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  5. ps...we have 'tons' of Eurasian collared doves here in Texas.

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  6. Enjoy your camera... it's a beauty.
    Great photos, love the closeup of the Lark. Cheers :D)

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  7. Enjoy your new camera, Phil! Lovely series and fascinating post.

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  8. Interesting. Didn't know they were in North America. Seen plenty when I lived in the UK.

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  9. I love collared doves. The are so dainty and elegant unlike the thug of our garden, the clumsy wood pigeon!
    Interesting how they can recreate a species!
    Good luck with your new canon. My husband is a great canon fan. I have one but get frustrated at changing lenses and so lazily opt for my bridge camera. For my birthday he has booked me on a canon beginners workshop!
    Have a lovely week :)

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  10. Interesting text. Here in Finland are nesting about 100 pairs of Collared Dove. Enjoy your new camera!

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  11. doves are one of the sweetest birds that I know about.

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  12. Fascinating post! We saw a few collared doves in Tucson when we were there. I don't agree with the cloning...I think the money should be spent to preserve the endangered species, but that's just my opinion. It's good to be back...hope you can get out and bird again soon!

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  13. Very interesting information on the doves and the passenger pigeon especally about de-extincion. See you got an 80D then, still considering what to get myself from my 70D.

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  14. That's quite interesting! I think I counted 20 mourning doves at one time. I love them!
    (ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

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  15. Great photos of the Doves! Lovely birds!
    We see both of them here in southeast USA

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  16. It looks like a great new camera there Phil. Hope you have great luck with it. I just finally got to replace my broken 70/300 lens for my camera. You may recall when I fell a year ago, it went with me...huge sigh. We can walk out the front door certain times of the day and some twenty to thirty Mourning Doves will fly up from the ground where they have huddled together. We really love them. Those Collared Doves are so pretty. I have seen a single Rock Pigeon once and it had all kinds of leg bands attached. Of all places it was standing in the lane of a cemetery, the very one where Muhammad Ali is buried along with Colonel Sanders and one day...I too shall reside, but a very long time from now, I declare ;). Stay well~

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  17. Collared Doves are just so lovely.

    Have fun with your new camera, once the weather allows.

    All the best Jan

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  18. Great Article I Love Dove And I Have Also
    https://pigeoncarecenter.blogspot.com/?m=1

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