This interesting news caught my eye this evening and I thought I would share it with everyone.

Beautiful bird! I can imagine the sensation this rare sighting has caused amongst keen birdwatchers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9399000/9399571.stm

First time I have ever seen one and what a beautiful bird that is and its head looks like a pigeon and such a beautiful color as well. Thanks for I enjoyed that small article as well.. Really pretty...

I've been known to chase rare visitors to North America, but never have traveled to the UK to see them. I have done some wonderful birding trips for the local birds in Ireland and enjoyed them. The colonial nesting birds on the northern coast are wonderful. Particularly liked the Puffins.

Hugh

IT WAS IN MY GARDEN!!!!!!!!! THAT IS WHERE THEY SAW IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Wow Lindi is that bird beautiful sure hope it gets back on track. Thanks for posting this post.... Sure wish we had them here....

mpigeon wrote:IT WAS IN MY GARDEN!!!!!!!!! THAT IS WHERE THEY SAW IT!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! You will be in the record books! I am impressed. Were you the person who discovered and reported it? It is great to know we have a world famous person in the group!


Hugh

It's also great that we have a joker in the group!


I wish I could say April fools!

NICE FIND LINDI! Gorgeous dove and what an amazing story! Sorry to say but I knew you were fooling, Mpigeon

We all knew you were fooling and it was fun especially that "old maniac" (tee hee) when he asked for pictures.. We all took it tongue and cheek. It was fun and that bird is just beautiful and has a pigeon look to it especially the head area....

I seem to spend a lot of time here in Thailand looking at the pigeons around the apartment pool. I used to be looking at something else by the pool, but she apparently checked out and went home, perhaps after the gender reassignment surgery was complete. Yikes!

At any rate, one Perhaps Pigeon sort of stands out, and I’m trying was trying to figure out if it is, in fact, a pigeon. It has no cere. Do all pigeons have ceres? I’ve not found anything to the contrary in my admittedly brief research…

ZZAAPPP!

That, by the way, was where I had to delete the rest of my putative post, because I read this thread as I sought where to put mine. I think it answered my question. No, I don’t believe it’s an Oriental Turtle Dove – they seemed to have zebra-striped, not checkerboard, markings on their necks, but I bet it’s a close relative:


The only really full shot I got, unfortunately in the shade. more on shade in a moment.

Hmm... I had better shots, but now "Host and Image" just gives me a completely blank box. I suspect it has something to do with the glacial Internet connection here, not that Brad somehow pissed off the Thais like I found out he did the Chinese when I was in Hong Kong. I guess I'll (try to) fire this off and send a second post with more pictures, if that works.

Jim

Let's try this again...



Aha! It was the slow connection. This time got the usual Host box, selected the file, and waited. I made lunch. I ate lunch. Full disclosure: It was a very light lunch. Then, after 11 minutes, success! In those 11 minutes I took time out from my feast to note that the picture, even cropped as it is from the original, was still over four megs. I've been here for several weeks - I should have known better than to put that over a glorified 2400 baud connection.

So, while still waiting, I shrunk the rest down to the 800 pixel size myself, so they are but 400 KB. I'll barely have time for a snack! Hopefully the quality won't suffer.



And, getting back to the shade thing, which took a lot longer than I had expected, here is a strange pose. As far as I can tell, he/she is using the left wing as a lean-to for shade which, given the ridiculous heat would have been a good idea, if actual shade weren't just ten meters away - see the first picture!



And finally...


...the end!

Well Paws you are a genius and that Dove is a Dove but which one? I bet our forum member Gnuretiree will know and Oh how beautiful it is--Wow--... You take beautiful pictures---where in the world is that where you are taking them?? Florida or somewhere? Maybe doves don't have much of a cere--don't know and with their good looks don't seem to be lacking anything....Thanks forum friend with those beautiful beautiful pictures.....

The pictures are from Thailand. The pool scene is interesting: On my last two yearly trips the few pigeons that visited for a quick sip were very skittish. For some reason this year they are many more, and they are more like typical city birds - you almost trip on them. The staff don't seem to mind: Perhaps cleaning pigeon poop is viewed as job security.

The nares seem too far forward for a cere, so it's not like one is missing. Definitely makes for a smoother look:



Can pigeons close the nares in their ceres? is that how they can suck water while other birds do the head-bob thing? I've never observed this one drink, so I wonder.

Darn! The bill got snipped... again! Well, you get the idea.

Lol. It's amazing what some people can belive with just a little push and writing in capitals!

You could have been rich!

http://tinyurl.com/Five-pounds-a-pop

I believe the one I see is a Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis). But there are a couple turtles in the koi ponds around the pool, so I have turtles, doves, and I am in Asia. Can I collect some money if I duct tape them together and bring them home?

This post just made your rank rise to chick! You have now posted 100 times on this website. I am close too. congrats

Thanks! But look at when I joined versus you: That has to be one of the longest incubation periods ever. I bet Mom and Dad are happy!