The tutor shares a discovery he’s awaited.

As long as a year and a half ago, I began hearing a new bird call. I at first thought it was hooting from an owl. I explored many owl calls here, but couldn’t match what I was hearing.

Eventually I heard that the call was not hooting, but in fact cooing, from a kind of dove that had recently taken up local residence. I listened to a couple of pigeons and/or doves on the internet; they didn’t match the outdoor call, but they were close enough that I came to believe I was hearing a dove. Without a true match, however, the case “went cold.”

As I mentioned in my March 28 post, I’ve been paying more attention to birds as a way to embrace spring. To that end, I got the binoculars out and scanned the neighborhood a few times, ready for a bird sighting. Yesterday, I heard the cooing again, and even saw a dove high in a tree across the road. Quickly fetching the binoculars, I got my first close-up of the bird. It flew away, but then settled much closer on some telephone wires, with its mate.

The bird seems to be a Eurasian collared-dove. It does have a stripe on the back of its neck, and a yellowish color. Even its posing on the telephone wires is indicative. Its call matches the one here.

I really feel good about this identification, and about sharing it:)

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.