Territorial Doves

white winged doves

Peaceful Doves? Not When Territory Is an Issue!

Doves are generally thought of as peaceful creatures. And, in some ways, and most of the time, they are. They seem to spend all their waking hours eating and making more doves. The white winged dove did not have much of a presence when I first moved to Albuquerque, and now they are everywhere. I rarely see a mourning dove these days, which was the more common dove when I first arrived.

I photographed these white winged doves during the Great Backyard Bird Count last weekend. I was kind of glad they put on a show.

At first glance, you might think these two look peaceful enough. But, note the raised wing of warning!

white winged doves
See that raised wing? Someone is about to start a fight!

And then, a full blown warning:

white winged doves
“I’ll show what I’ve got!”

That was followed by a real attack:

white winged doves
“Take that! If you don’t like it, go somewhere else! This is MY territory!”

Then, the two began to settle down gradually. A little later they returned to ground feeding, as if nothing had happened.

white winged doves
These doves are ready – almost – to call the fight over.

They gave me something beyond the usual to photograph. 🙂

The Early Bird Gets the Water, the Worm, the Seed, and the Photo

Yesterday morning I was out photographing flowers in the yard. I noticed a lot of birds, but did not have the best lens on the camera for that type of photography. So, this morning I got up early and went out to see what birds were out today.

This is a juvenile scrub jay. The jays love peanuts, but will come for the water in a bird bath. This summer has been so hot and dry – New Mexico is in the midst of “extreme drought” – that many birds will come for the water, even without food being put out.

Bird scrub jay
Scrub jay

This is a white winged dove, keeping a wary eye on me. The pine tree shows damage from both drought and disease (dry trees are more susceptible to disease), but that tree is home to several birds. I hope it manages to survive.

white winged dove
White winged dove

For as long as I have lived here, a variety of birds have used this juniper as a type of “look out.” Birds also nest in this tree. This image shows a robin and a scrub jay. Scrub jays do not like to share, and the jay soon chased the robin off.

robin and scrub jay
Robin and scrub jay

House finches, goldfinches, road runners, sparrows, hummingbirds, and mourning doves are also seen very frequently here, so expect more bird photos.

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