[texbirds] Re: African Collared-Dove (formerly Ringed Turtle-Dove) in Gatesville
- From: "Mark Lockwood" <Mark.Lockwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:22:10 -0500
Dear all,
There are supposedly no populations of African Collard-Dove
(Streptopelia roseogrisea) that are considered as established in the
United States or Canada. The ABA no longer lists this species in their
checklist, although the AOU does presumably from populations in the
Bahamas and Puerto Rico. I wonder if those populations have survived
the invasion of Eurasian Collard-Doves.
It is my opinion that these two taxa do not actually hybridize, but that
the African Collared-Doves are simply less robust and are quickly out
competed by the Eurasian Collared-Doves. Unlike ducks, gulls and
hummingbirds, there are actually very few documented instances of doves
hybridizing in the US. Perhaps considering the sources of both of these
species in the US it might be possible that they are more included to
hybridize since I would assume that none of the source populations
actually ever lived in the wild. As Mary already pointed out, the very
small source population of Eurasian Collared-Doves has allowed for a far
more plumage variation than one would normally expect. It is not hard
to find very pale individuals and the same is true for darker birds, but
not to the same degree. As others have pointed out there have been
additional individuals that have either been released or escaped to
bolster the expanding introduced population and theoretically add to the
genetic diversity. However it seems to me that these captive raised
birds also are potentially genetic bottlenecks. It is an interesting
phenomenon that such an abundant bird in the US started from a small
population and are still thriving. This has direct implications to
Endangered Species that have dwindled down to very low numbers (Whooping
Crane, Cheetah) and are still surviving.
Mark
Mark Lockwood
Alpine, Texas 79830
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