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I’ve started seeing White-winged Doves in our neighborhood and hearing their rhythmic calls early in the morning. I associate these doves with the return of hot weather to southern Arizona. In our community they show up right around the beginning of April and the hot weather returns with them. It’s been above 90 (above 32 degrees celsius) here the past couple of days and that is just a pale foretaste of what will be coming in a few weeks.
I think of White-winged Doves as migratory, but that’s not really true. Yes, they migrate from our neighborhood in the shadow of the Santa Catalina Mountains each autumn, to return in early April. But they maintain a year-round presence in Ft. Lowell Park, just a five-minute drive from our home. I suspect that their migratory pattern has much more to do with the availability of food than it relates to weather and hours of sunlight.
When they’re here, they’re incredibly common, among the dominant suburban bird species. Birders tend to disdain White-winged Doves and many residents find them to be a nuisance. The doves are certainly are unconcerned about where they poop. But they are also remarkably beautiful, and very photogenic in some settings, such as this one:
Look closely at this bird and you’ll see that its plumage, which at first glance is predominately gray, white and black, actually shows some subtle and very beautiful color variations, particularly at the head and throat. Love them or hate them, White-winged Doves are an integral part of our desert community.
Image made with a Canon R5, Canon EF 400mm f4 DO II lens+Canon EF 1.4x telextender, M setting (auto ISO), ISO 640, f5.6 @ 1/3200.
Sonoran Images 