tags: Inca Dove, Columbina inca, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Inca Dove, Columbina inca, photographed in Paul Rushing Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The gentle, big-eyed, small-headed look of this bird should send us in the direction of the pigeons. This is a notably small and notably long-tailed bird, with a clear pattern of regular scaling starting on the visible uppertail coverts and continuing all the way up to the crown. The hint of bright rufous in the folded wing confirm our identification of this Inca Dove.
The major confusion species in the US is Mourning Dove, young birds of which are heavily scaled. They are huge, though, and the long tail is pointed rather than squared off; Mourning Doves lack bright color in the primaries, but they have large black blotches on the wing coverts, lacking in our quiz bird.
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Inca dove
scaly-looking
hint of rufous just visible in wings
I concur - Inca dove: scaly apearance, lack of black spots (Mourning dove), hidden rufous, range.