Portrait of a whitewing dove

[Tom Barry]

This fellow visited the back porch this morning. I decided to make a headshot portrait, since the eye and its surround are the most colorful parts of this mostly-gray, almost-pigeon-sized bird:

Dove1-web by tombarry975, on Flickr

[DEAN01]

Wow, nice shot, Tom. I never realized the eye surrond was blue.

[bnnrcn]

Nice shot of a beautiful bird

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, very colorful.

[chauncey]

Most defiantly a keeper...for sure.

[IzzieK]

Tom, I am like Dean...my first word was "Wow!" Each feathers are all very sharp. And everything else that came with it. Excellent.

[Barbara Ponder]

Lovely shot! I have heard this also called a morning dove, is that right?

[Tom Barry]

Lovely shot! I have heard this also called a morning dove, is that right?

Thanks, Dean, Binnur, John, Chauncey and Izzie.

Barbara, the whitewing's quite different from the mourning dove, which is smaller and named for its sad-sounding call. The whitewing is native to Mexico and far South Texas, and has one distinctive patch of white on each wing. In the past 20 years it has expanded to cover almost all areas of Texas. Its call is loud and not, to me, musical. In many areas, the whitewing roosts in town and flies out to the fields to feed in the mornings and evenings. It seems to be out-competing the native mourning dove and the smaller ground doves and Inca doves.

Here's a shot of two whitewings in a tree outside our home:

White2web by tombarry975, on Flickr

[IzzieK]

Tom there are two harrassed looking birds on your Flickr account of a lady cardinal? Why don't you upload it here too ... I like them too...

[chauncey]

Tom, humor me if you would...check my dove/pigeon pictures on my 1x link.
Is it dove or pigeon?

[Tom Barry]

Tom, humor me if you would...check my dove/pigeon pictures on my 1x link.
Is it dove or pigeon?

The three photos of the small grey bird? I'm pretty sure that is either a ground dove or an Inca dove.

[Tom Barry]

Tom there are two harrassed looking birds on your Flickr account of a lady cardinal? Why don't you upload it here too ... I like them too...

Izzie, they're pretty bedraggled, but as you wish. The young male appears to have narrowly escaped from a hawk or other predator; the young female had been bathing in our fountain and was just finished shaking off the water. Here they are (from my Photobucket account, which makes it easy to post multiple shots):

[IzzieK]

They are pretty...I love them...have lots of them in my backyard...but my shots are nowhere near as good as yours here...I will upload them soon...