A forest pigeon that also likes to come to feeders, the Band-tailed Pigeon is the closest genetic relative of the extinct Passenger Pigeon.

The Anna’s Hummingbird, four letter code ANHU, at 3 ½ - 4” is slightly larger than other West Coast hummingbirds.

The Rufous Hummingbird is one of our beloved Northwest breeding birds which is awaited by birders as a sure sign of Spring. Its breeding area includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Western Montana, British Columbia, and south-central Alaska.

The mournful oowoo wooo woo woo (Alderfer) is the source of the Mourning Dove’s name.  But its genus Zenaida, which it shares with the White-winged Dove Z. asiatica and Zenaida Dove Z. aurita, is named for a princess.

In the middle 1970s a local breeder in the Bahamas was burglarized and several Eurasian Collared-Doves were released. Soon thereafter he released the remaining 50 birds he had

The Rock Pigeon (ROPI), formerly called Rock Dove, is better known as the common city pigeon is 12-14" long. It is believed this was the first bird to be domesticated, about 4500 B.C..

A recent birding trip to Europe stimulated me to write about a European bird we might see in North America. The European Starling is an obvious choice, although we also saw many House Sparrows.

At the time the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, MA the Passenger Pigeon was probably the most abundant bird in North America (Kaufman). Enormous nomadic flocks of these pigeons numbering in the millions roamed around the eastern two-thirds of the continent eating beechnuts, acorns, grains, and berries.