Colorado is a special place for dove species in the United States. Its own natural beauty and unique wildlife attract doves. The islands are home to an incredibly diverse of birds such as doves and other species.
These beautiful doves maintain Colorado’s wildlife ecosystem. Colorado Doves play an important role in the state’s ecology and cultural heritage.
In this blog post, we will explore the 5 types of doves in Colorado, their characteristics, habitat, diet, and location.
What kind of doves are in Colorado?
There are 5 types of dove species found in Colorado. Here are the 5 types of doves in Colorado:
- Mourning Dove
- White-winged Dove
- Band-tailed Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared Dove
- Rock Pigeon
Whether you are a bird lover or photographer or just curious to know about Colorado’s natural wonders join us. We will discover the fascinating world of doves in Colorado.
1. Mourning Doves in Colorado
The Mourning Doves are the most common type of doves in Florida, Michigan, and Colorado as well as in other parts of America.
Mourning Dove is commonly seen in telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground.
This dove has a slender tail, a small head, black eyes, and a black small beak. Mourning Dove can grow up to 9-13 inches in length with a wingspan of 15-18 inches.
Mourning Doves eat corn, millet, buckwheat, Rye, pine nuts, foxtail, peanuts, canary grass, wheat, sunflower seeds, rapeseed, etc. In winter, they mostly eat foxtail millet and corn.
How to Identify a Mourning Dove: Mourning Doves have large black spots on their wings. They have black small bills and blue day rings.
These doves in Hawaii has long tail, short legs, overall greyish-brown color body, with black spots on the wings. They are looking very beautiful when they are in a grooming position.
Mourning Dove’s main habitats include bare ground, telephone wires, and trees. They make nests on trees with small straws.
If you feed them millet and other seeds they can spend much of their time in your backyard.
Mourning Doves feed busily on the ground, swallowing seeds. Once they finish their feeds, they can fly into a safe area and digest the meal.
2. White-winged dove in Colorado
White-winged Dove is a medium-sized dove with a short and small head. They have pale brown bodies with a white stripe along their wings.
This species of dove is larger than a Mourning Dove. White-winged Doves are brown overall.
They have a white long stripe on their wings, it looks more clear when they are flying.
They have blue skin around their eyes. One interesting thing about these birds is they have red eyes.
White-winged Doves forage on grain and seeds on the ground. One interesting behavior of this bird is gathering in huge flocks.
Their calls sound like “whoo-OOO-oo, 000-00“.
They always prefer riverwoods, groves, farmland, suburbs, and trees in grassland. White-winged Doves feed on seeds, agave, ocotillo, fruit, etc.
3. Band-tailed Pigeon in Colorado
Band-tailed Pigeon is a beautiful dove species found in Alaska, Colorado as well and other parts of the country.
These doves spend most of their time in large groups with hundreds of birds.
In Colorado, this species of bird is found in mixed forests. But they are also found in wooded suburban areas.
Just like other doves, these doves also eat various seeds and fruit. If you want to listen to their sound, you can rarely listen to their sound because most of the time these dove species spend their time at the top of the large trees.
Male band-tailed Pigeon produce soft, deep, slow coos like an owl hooting.
How to identify: These pigeons have greyish wings and back. Their upper parts are brownish-grey and their underparts are purple-grey.
They have a unique white bar on the back of their neck. This feature will help you to easily identify these birds.
4. Eurasian Collared Dove in Colorado
The Eurasian collared dove is not a native bird of North America. It was introduced into the Bahamas in the 1970s after the 1980s it spread throughout North America.
Eurasian Collared-Dove’s main habitats include bare ground, telephone wires, and trees like the Mourning Dove. They make nests on trees with small straws.
These doves in Michigan are a common breeding bird that is very difficult to identify. If you see this bird from behind, you can’t identify this bird whether it is Eurasian Collared-Dove or it’s a Mourning Dove.
They have a black half-collar on the neck that’s why they are very difficult to identify.
How to attract these birds?
You can easily attract these birds with offers of sunflower seeds, other seeds, and corn, and provide them with dense trees for nesting, so they spend more time in your backyard.
5. Rock Pigeon in Colorado
Rock Pigeons are highly common doves in Colorado. This dove is large that’s why everyone called them a “Pigeon”.
They are gathering in huge flocks like a mourning dove. Rock Pigeons were introduced by European Settlers in the Early 17th Century.
You can find this bird anywhere in the world. This bird species is one of the most common dove species in the world.
The Rock Pigeons love to eat corn, seeds, wheat, and scraps of food that are discarded by humans. Rock Pigeons have a good relationship with humans.
You can easily attract these birds with offers of sunflower seeds, other seeds, and corn, and provide them with dense trees for nesting, so they spend more time in your backyard.
If you saw in a TV or movie some birds carrying human messages? Yes, Those birds are Rock Pigeons. This bird is highly intelligent and has special bonds with humans.
how to identify: You can easily identify these doves. Rock pigeons have small heads, short legs, and grey-back blue-grey heads.
FAQs:
Are doves common in Colorado?
Doves are another bird species that are common in Colorado. There are 5 types of doves usually found in Colorado. 5 Doves are –
Mourning Dove
White-winged Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
Rock Pigeon
What kind of pigeons are in Colorado?
If we talk about only pigeons, there are 2 types of pigeons in Colorado. Rock pigeons and Band-tailed Pigeons are the common pigeons in Colorado.
What dove has a ring around its neck in Colorado?
Eurasian Collared Dove has a black half-collar ring around their neck that’s why they are very difficult to identify.
Conclusion:
Doves in Colorado are unique birds in wildlife. From the beautiful Mourning Dove to the rock pigeons and white-winged dove, these birds offer a glimpse into Colorado’s natural wildlife. So next time you visit Colorado, be sure to keep an eye out for these important birds.
Sources: Wikipedia, ebird, all about bird
