Nature Photography

Bird, wildlife, and landscape photography by Jon Rista

A Rare Dove


A common visitor to my yard is the Mourning Dove, well known for their soft “coo.” When I first saw this dove in late fall, I thought it was a rather large Mourning Dove. As it turned out, it was a rather rare visitor to Colorado…the Eurasian Collared Dove. The small “collar” around its neck is the giveaway…Mourning Doves do not have that, and instead have a sheath of iridescent lime green and aqua blue feathers that are particularly beautiful during their breeding season. The deep red eyes are also different. The Eurasian Collared Dove is also a fair bit larger than the average Mourning Dove…this one seemed particularly large, almost as large as a Rock Pigeon (which can be quite large indeed!)

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