All - I asked Julie Craves for an opinion on the Dunkirk "Mystery Dove". Julie is doing research on Eurasian Collared-Doves for an upcoming article. Her comments follow ... >Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 11:14:51 -0400 >From: "Julie Craves" <jcraves@umd.umich.edu> >Organization: Rouge River Bird Observatory >To: Phil Davis <pdavis@ix.netcom.com> >Subject: Re: [BIRDCHAT] Eurasian Collared-Dove records > >Phil, [SNIP] >I took a look at your mystery bird, and my initial reaction is RNTD. >The bird appears gray in the lower photo, but lacks gray tones in the >upper photos (since the food tray is faux wood, I'm guessing the color >accuracy in these photos might be truer). There are fawn-colored >variants of ECDO, but from what I've read they are not very common yet >and so far I've only seen them reported from southern FL. Primaries on >ECDO should be black, or at least darker than the rest of the wing, >rather than gray or not much darker than the rest of the wing, as in the >mystery bird. The outer webs of the outer tail feathers on ECDO tend to >be mostly dark, while on RNTD are mostly white. They appear white in >this dove. How have opinions been stacking up? [SNIP] >-- >Julie A. Craves >Rouge River Bird Observatory >University of Michigan-Dearborn > >http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/rouge_river ================================================ Phil Davis, Secretary MD/DC Records Committee home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA MD/DCRC Web site: http://www.MDBirds.org ================================================