a naturalist in the family

[dian donnell]

That's very cool, Connie. Congratulations to your whole family.  To not 
just find each other, but to have that in common.  You've been birding 
for a long time.
But am sorry those Eurasian collared doves could take the food of the 
smaller doves, whose cooing delights my, ahem, mornings.  Was fed one 
once by a proud hunter, and could barely, um, swallow.
dian

On Jul 11, 2005, at 9:31 AM, Connie Clark wrote:

> Hi,
>  
> I had an awesome experience this past weekend - I joined my cousins at 
> a reception for a long lost cousin.  Gary is the son of my dad's 
> brother killed in WWII.  He was 18 months old when his 29-year-old dad 
> was killed by a sniper during the Battle of the Bulge. His mother did 
> not stay close to her in-laws, so we didn't see Gary much growing up - 
> just a glimpse at funerals.  Gary's mom chose also to say very little 
> about her deceased husband. There is a whole story behind that, I'm 
> sure.
>  
> Gary was all ears to my older cousins who could tell him anything 
> about his dad. We had a whole box of letters to the family from Jim 
> David during his short 8 months of infrantry duty in France and 
> Germany to give to Gary.  He was moved.  All too sad, really, even the 
> 'good' wars where we win, produce long and deep personal losses.
>  
> Getting to know him, I found out that Gary who is about the same age 
> as me, is a naturalist, and writes a regular column in the Houston 
> Chronicle (which I have read for years, and never actually snapped 
> that he might be my cousin Gary Clark). My brother, in the interest of 
> geneology did the successful internet research to locate and contact 
> him.
>  
> Gary's wife is a professional nature photographer and photographer 
> teacher.  They are both avid bird watchers, and were happy to know 
> that there is another bird watcher in the family. We all agreed that 
> we would get together for a birding trip soon.  How cool is that! They 
> are taking off for a couple of weeks vacationing, taking notes and 
> photos in Big Bend this weekend. They said that their lives revolve 
> around the weekly column.
>  
> Here is his latest - I couldn't get her great photo of the collared 
> dove off the Chronicle's internet site, but found a link to her 
> website. She has 15 photographers that she says take nature photos and 
> sell through her service.
> http://www.kathyadamsclark.com/
> Pretty neat nature photos
> There is a book also: Texas Wildlife Photos (I think that's the 
> title), published last year.
>  
>  
> The welcome mat is out /Eurasian collared doves find a home in Houston
>
>  By GARY CLARK
>
>
> Eurasian collared doves have been expanding their range for centuries 
> through natural dispersal and human introduction. These natives of 
> India began showing up in Turkey about 400 years ago, then moved into 
> China and Japan. They arrived in Europe in the early 1900s, in Britain 
> by midcentury.
>
>  A caged-bird breeder brought Eurasian collard doves to the Bahamas in 
> the mid-1970s, and those birds were released into the wild during a 
> burglary. They spread to Florida by the late 1980s and to Louisiana by 
> the early 1990s. The Texas Birds Records Committee first documented 
> the birds in 1995, and today they are in every coastal county and 
> throughout the state, though more prevalent in urban than in rural 
> areas.
>
>  When the doves started showing up in Houston, many observers believed 
> they were ringed turtledoves, which look similar. Those popular 
> cage-birds are also non-native to the United States, and escaped 
> individuals established a limited but persistent wild population in 
> Houston some years back.
>
>  Detecting the difference between the two doves requires a careful 
> eye, because both are sandy-gray and have a thin black half-collar on 
> the back of the neck. But the Eurasian collared dove has a gray belly, 
> pale gray under-tail feathers and black at the base of the under-tail. 
> The ringed turtledove is smaller and has a white belly, white 
> under-tail feathers and limited black at the base of the tail.
>
>  The two doves also differ in their primary feathers, the flight 
> feathers extending from the middle of the wing outward. In flight, the 
> Eurasian collared dove shows dark-brown primaries, while the ringed 
> turtledove shows pale-brown primaries.
>
>  Their songs are similar. To my ear, the Eurasian collared dove has a 
> rather harsh three-noted ca-coo-coo sound, whereas the ringed 
> turtledove has a softly melodic two-noted coo-kroo sound.
>
>  Eurasian collared doves are becoming common all over Texas and are 
> already common in other Gulf Coast states. Part of the reason for 
> their expansion is readily available food in the form of seed in 
> backyard bird feeders and waste grain in farming communities. Like 
> most other doves, they're primarily seed-eaters.
>
>  It is unclear what effect Eurasian collared doves will have on native 
> mourning, Inca and white-winged doves. Where I've observed a mix of 
> native doves with Eurasian collared doves, the latter often dominate 
> the feeding area, especially at the expense of the smaller Inca doves.
>
> Sell on Yahoo! Auctions  - No fees. Bid on great items.
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