Wildlife Spotting

Very cool josh, hope it's an african!!!

Pigeons and Doves are grouped together because they have the same ancestry and in some cases, such as Columba livia, Rock Dove and Rock Pigeon are both commonly used. They range from fat bodies with short tails (normally Pigeons) to thin bodies with longer tails (normally Doves) and those in between can be called either. There are few fixed rules when it comes to Common Names which not only vary from country to country but even within countries. Only Scientific names should be used for positive identification. Away from Birds and Mammals there are many species which have never been given Common Names, especially in the insect world.

I'm probably beyond wrong here, but do the black parts of the wings scream "pigeon" to anyone else? Also going with Malcolm's suggestion. Gorgeous shot, by the way! :)

The best clue to differentiate the African and Eurasian Collared Doves it to look at the undertail feathers. African are white with whiter edges, Euro are grey with dark edges. African primaries are pale grey, Euro are darker grey/brown. Size-wise African is average 11" long, Euro is average 13" long. Eurasian Collared Dove is now common throughout much of the world , including USA. African Collared Dove was imported into USA for interbreeding to create new species for the pet trade so escapes of pure African birds are extremely rare and they would be ringed on the legs. The smudge in front of the eye and the poorly marked neck ring could be the result of inter-breeding or just moulting. Juvenile Euro Collared Dove has no neck ring and paler feathers and now would be the right time for the black and white neck rings to start appearing. If the size was around 13" I would suggest you have a juvenile Euro Collared Dove moulting into its adult plumage. If it was around 11" then you have an escaped or feral bird.