[SBB] WWDO still present - 9/20/06

[[[email protected]] (Mike Rogers)]

All,

I arrived at the Morabito farm just after 8am and Mike Mammoser was already there with the WHITE-WINGED DOVE in his scope. We watched the bird for over a half hour as it sat in a dead willow. It moved around a bit at 8:42am, then got very agitated when a COOPER'S HAWK came by at 8:49am, flying from the willow to the telephone wires by the road when the Cooper's stopped nearby. A minute later, it flew off to the south, then turned west over Highway 101 and disappeared.

This is a hatching-year bird, with white splays on the forehead and auriculars (see Sibley), pale blue and limited skin in front of the eye, a dull black whisker mark, brownish primaries (especially the tips), and dull orange eyes. The bird was growing some new lesser wing coverts that were a darker brown than the juvenile feathers. The rightmost of the two central rectrices (visible from above on the closed tail) is missing its tip, but the bird's age class (HY), its wariness when the Cooper's Hawk showed up, and powerful flight all seem consistent with a wild bird - although who knows whether the dove fancier at Maple and Murphy may be keeping WWDOs or not. There were 15+ EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES and 2 RINGED TURTLE-DOVES at Morabito's as well.

Mike Rogers
Sunnyvale

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