Eurasian Dove Invasion

My wife and I just returned from a short trip to Ashland, OR and surroundings.  It was a great trip filled with Shakespeare, rain, hiking and birds!  We have visited this region every year for several years now, and this year there was a new arrival there waiting for us…Eurasian Collared-Doves.  Lots of them!  This non-native species has been spreading quite dramatically across North America in recent years.  A small, but growing, population has been breeding in Davis, CA for the past few years.  The existence of this species in North America is largely the result of escaped birds that decided not to return to their cages.  As a result, this invasion started in large urban areas.  In California, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego were the first locations that reported having feral groups of these birds.  The range that this increasing population covers has been growing faster and faster, and this is the first time I have seen them in southern Oregon.  They were all over Ashland and Jacksonville and the smaller towns in between.  How this species interacts with the native Mourning Dove or Whtie-winged Dove, or the fellow invasive Rock Pigeon has not been studied, but it seems that these species have close enough natural histories that interactions will occur, and since the Eurasian Collard-Dove population in increasing, it seems likely that some or all of the others are suffering.  So, keep an eye out for this large pale-gray dove, and also take time to notice how many Mourning Doves you see around.  The earlier we can catch on to a possible problem, the more likely we are to be able to influence the eventual outcome.

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