![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/eurasian-collared-dove-7242-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"eurasian-collared-dove-7242-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nDuring a burglary in 1974\u00a0a few captive Eurasian Collared-Doves escaped from a local breeder in\u00a0The Bahamas. As a result the breeder chose to release the rest of his stock, approximately 50 birds, and it didn’t take long for those doves and their offspring to traverse the 50 miles from\u00a0The Bahamas\u00a0to Florida.<\/p>\n
Eurasian Collared-Doves (EUCD’s) are not migratory but they’re strongly dispersive so in the relatively\u00a0few decades since the 1970’s they’ve spread from Florida\u00a0across most of the US, Mexico and\u00a0parts of southern Canada and to this day\u00a0their population densities continue to increase rapidly.<\/p>\n
They’re here folks and they’re established so there’s very little we can do about it.<\/p>\n
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1\/400, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I saw my very first few\u00a0EUCD’s in late spring of 2009 at historic Camp Floyd in western Utah County and this bird is one of them. I remember being terribly excited about\u00a0the sighting because\u00a0spotting them was a “lifer” for me and I was hugely disappointed by the poor quality of my photos (largely because of poor lighting). But\u00a0EUCD’s quickly became so ubiquitous around here that I’ve\u00a0rarely (maybe never)\u00a0photographed them since, even though they’re now so common. Invasive species just don’t float my photographic\u00a0boat.<\/p>\n Little is known about this dove in its New World range leaving a vast number of questions unanswered, including what their effect might be on native species. As of 2012 relatively few negative impacts have been demonstrated in Florida (where so far at least the species is most prolific) but EUCD’s are known to be aggressive competitors and there’s real concern that as their populations continue to increase they will outcompete native species, especially\u00a0other\u00a0Columbids (doves and pigeons).<\/p>\n For what\u00a0it’s worth\u00a0I have some anecdotal observations on that very\u00a0subject.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I mentioned earlier I had never seen a EUCD before 2009. I only saw native\u00a0Mourning Doves (as in the photo above) which were common in many of our habitats. But today I estimate that roughly 75% of the doves I observe here in northern Utah are EUCD’s and that disparity seems to be growing. I’m concerned that they’re already\u00a0out-competing\u00a0and displacing Mourning Doves (and possibly other species)\u00a0and we don’t even “know” it yet.<\/p>\n Don’t get me wrong, I love all birds. If a critter has\u00a0feathers I’m a huge fan and that includes European Collared-Doves. After all, their\u00a0presence in North America\u00a0isn’t their fault.<\/p>\n I’m just not a fan of them being here<\/em>.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Notes:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During a burglary in 1974 a few captive Eurasian Collared-Doves escaped from a local breeder in The Bahamas. As a result the breeder chose to release the rest of his stock…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/mourning-dove-2069b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/1000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n\n