So looking into some dove hunting in Yuma this fall and wondering; when the bird takes flight, how can the shooter can tell the between a Eurasian collard, mourning, or white winged dove?

Is there a tell tale sign which is obvious or do you find out when picking it up?

Whitewings are bigger than Mourning doves, and have patches of white on their wings (duh) that are pretty noticeable in flight. Mourning doves also have a pointy tail.

The introduced Eurasian collared doves are bigger than either, dusty gray colored and have a ring around their neck at the base. In Texas they aren't considered a game animal-here you can kill as many as you want whenever you can.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Whitewings are bigger than Mourning doves, and have patches of white on their wings (duh) that are pretty noticeable in flight. Mourning doves also have a pointy tail.

The introduced Eurasian collared doves are bigger than either, dusty gray colored and have a ring around their neck at the base. In Texas they aren't considered a game animal-here you can kill as many as you want whenever you can.

Thanks.

In AZ it's year round for the collard bird, just need a general license.

Any idea on converting a 930 SPX into a bird gun?

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/6690048824

Here is a picture of a Eurasian Collared dove I took last year. Black ring on neck and squared off tail.



Jim

The squared off tail is often a dead giveaway even in flight. Significantly larger than the pointy tail on the mourning dove. Also the Eurasian dove is somewhere between a mourning dove and a pigeon in size overall.

One weird thing ECDs do is they fly a steep angle upwards to a point and then they glide down. Of course, they also fly like other doves, but I've only seen them doing that weird gliding behavior.

The white wing patches on the white-wings is very obvious so no problem there. Mourning doves having different wing beats, and their pointy tails are a dead giveaway.

Inca doves' size and their rapid wing beats are an easy one also.

Distinguishing between different kinds of dove in flight may take a little time and is more advanced.

Perhaps the more important thing to know is the difference between doves and non doves in flight. I can sometimes get fooled on my first day back after a long layoff, but never enough to shoot a non-game bird. It's hard to tell by the look of the bird while it's in flight, it's more about the wing beat pattern, and trajectory, some birds rise and fall a lot, some fly more level, that's what I watch for.

I am reminded of George W. Bush taking the press dove hunting with him when he was running for Governor and he shot a killeer on camera and then was fined by the Game Warden. Oops.

I see a lot of both Mourning and Eurasian here, though I don't hunt them. The wide tail is a dead giveaway for the Eurasians in flight. Aside from the collar, I've also noticed the Eurasians don't have the spots on their wings like Mournings do, when grounded.

ETA: I see the tail was already mentioned.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vinnybass,