When Laurie was returning from putting the horses out on their evening hay, she saw a Cooper’s Hawk perched on the paddock fence. It was staring intently at a Eurasian Collared Dove that was perched near the horse sheds.
After a couple of minutes, the Dove flew off. The Cooper’s Hawk flew to a pipe-rail fence, closer to the sheds.
The Hawk peered into the sheds, staring at the ground, examining the interior walls, craning his head to see into the various corners.
He didn’t seem at all troubled by our presence. Every now and then he’d wag his tail from side-to-side in that intense, accipiter manner while he stared.
After a few minutes, he turned and jumped into the shed. A single flap took him over to the pipe rail on the far interior wall.
He landed perfectly on the rail on the far side of the shed. He stared intently at the walls and ceiling of the inside of the shed.
It’s interesting – the spot he was in was just beneath the rafter upon which the Doves had nested last year. Perhaps the Doves had been working on a nest in the same location this year, and the Coops was checking their progress?
Or maybe he’d seen them working on it and hoped to surprise them?
He found nothing this year, though, and darted away across the horse paddock.
A couple of hours later, the Doves were back on the horse panels. I’m guessing that the Cooper’s Hawk will be back soon, as well.
It’s interesting – in spite of their ubiquity, these Eurasian Collared Doves have not been in Southwestern Colorado for very long.
They were originally native to Southeastern Asia, and then spread to Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Then, in the 1970s, a few of them supposedly were released in the Bahamas during a pet-shop burglary in the 1970s. For some reason, the pet shop owner then released the rest of his stock – about fifty more birds. These birds soon spread to Florida, and began their spread across North America.
The first record of Eurasian Ground Doves in Colorado was in Fort Collins, in 1996. Seventeen years later, in 2013, they were present in every county in Colorado. That year, Fort Collins had the distinction of having the highest known concentration of Eurasian Ground Doves in the Nation, according to Christmas Bird Count data.
The Doves seem to prefer places with that humans have already disturbed. They like high concentrations of seeds – so, bird feeders in urban and suburban areas, feedlots and grain silos in agricultural areas. I’m guessing that’s why they were so fond of Fort Collins.
I have to admit…given that Laurie and I arrived in Colorado around the same time that the Eurasian Ground Doves arrived, I can’t help but feel some kinship with these birds.
Sources:
Lofholm, Nancy. 2014. ‘Invasive doves colonize Colorado and overshadow “good” doves.’ The Denver Post, February 24, 2014.
