[obol] Corvallis dove question

[Joel Geier]

Hello folks,

Back in late May, photos of a "collared" dove in Corvallis were posted 
on the following URL:

http://www.bitphotography.com/proofs/dove

There was one comment on OBOL by a person who simply said "Yes, Eurasian 
Collared Dove" without discussion, citing personal familiarity with them 
from Florida.

Looking at these photos now, I wonder what are the conclusive marks to 
rule out Ringed Turtle-Dove?

The bird does appear to have darker primaries than typical for Ringed 
Turtle-Dove, though not darker than African Collared-Dove which is the 
ancestral form of the domesticated Ringed Turtle-Dove. We have had one 
such instance in the general area in the past (a bird in Independence 
that Jo Yeager and I spent a good 1+ hour looking at at close range with 
primo views of the undertail, and which definitely had white undertail 
coverts though it had darker primaries than typical Ringed Turtle-Dove, 
similar to this bird).

In view 1 the undertail coverts of the bird are not visible. In views 2 
& 3 (IMG_0991.htm and IMG_0995.htm) they are shaded but -- even though 
shaded appear to be more whitish than the back, which I thought was a 
mark for African Collared-/Ringed Turtle-Dove.

Views 2 & 3 do appear to show dark outer webs at the base of the tail, 
though neither view shows the underside of the webs.

So my question is, are these photos really diagnostic or should we leave 
this bird as "Collared-Dove sp."?

One Collared-Dove sp. was also seen in Corvallis in early May by an 
experienced birder who thought the undertail coverts were white rather 
than gray. There are some photos of that bird but apparently not 
diagnostic (expressed opinion of those who looked at them, I have not 
seen them).

For those who have had experience mulling this over, what does it take 
to establish a first record of Eurasian Collared-Dove in an area? 
Granted it looks like sooner or later we are bound to be overrun with 
them, but what does it take for us to say for sure, "They're here!"

Or is it possible that when we get overrun, it might be a mish-mash of 
Eurasian Collared-Doves, feral Turtle-Doves which have started to 
manifest ancestral traits, and possibly hybrids of the two?

In other words, what's a poor local field-notes compiler to do?

Thanks & good birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
jgeier at attglobal.net