Arizona Dreamin’

By laurie54

Female Ruddy Ground-Dove (UPDATED)

Forget everything I wrote below.  I was informed by ebird just this morning (8 January 2018), that this is a freshly fledged Mourning Dove.  I have no idea what took them so long to check it out.  But that does answer the question I posed in the last line of the original write-up!

These doves frequent mainly wet areas, open country with scattered trees, thickets, scrub, savannas, marshes, forest edges, cultivated fields and even towns. The species is visible up to 2600 metres of elevation; my elevation is 915 metres.  She seemed to be drawn to my water.

The Ruddy Ground-Dove is found from Mexico, south to Central and South America: Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago. The species is resident throughout the range, but it may perform irregular movements to SW USA during winter,  and to the extreme southern parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

This is a new breed for me.  I wanted to make sure not to confuse it with a Common Ground-Dove or an Inca Dove.  I'm quite confident in my ID, but wow, what the dickens is she doing here in August?

Easier to view detail in black.

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