Michael,

There are a number of such "wild" populations in eastern Washington
rimrock areas, e.g., Frenchman Coulee, Columbia Gorge e of Lyle, etc.

Gene.

On Sun, 7 Apr 1996, Michael Price wrote:

> Hi Tweets,
>
> Does anyone know of any instances in which Rock Doves (RODO) have taken up
> residence on sea-cliffs or any other wild area in Cascadia?
>
> Only place I know of outside city and farm is on an enormous red rock (a
> pint-size mountain, really) in the Dry Interior of BC, with a sheer
> vertical 250-300 meter (apprx 800-1,000 ft) cliff face. It stands by itself
> in the middle of an irrigated river valley a few kilometers S of Clinton BC
> on Hwy 97. Lots of ledges and overhangs, and nothing for quite a ways that
> would seem typical feral RODO habitat.
>
> Scoping from the highway shoulder a few years ago my boss, Ken Winters, and
> I were looking for some slightly out-of-usual-range White-throated Swifts
> that had been reported there several years before. A flash of motion
> alerted us to a Rock Dove flying to a ledge about 2/3 the way up where
> there was another RODO; a third bird, presumably an unfledged young bird,
> came out to join them. As far as we could see (at long range and high power
> with some heat shimmy), no other RODO's were on this huge cliff, though a
> plethora of suitable nesting ledges existed. Interestingly, and perhaps
> significantly, all three birds -- so far as we could tell -- were wearing
> the ancestral white-rumped grey plumage.
>
> The swifts? Well, we didn't see them, but we did see at least five or six
> pairs of Violet-green Swallows (definite, though not an easy ID at that
> distance, and would have been *very* hard to someone without the extra
> high-end power of the Kowa or one of the other 70+mm scopes) flying in and
> out of nesting crevices high up on the cliff. And one opportunistic little
> kestrel messing around on the thermals and currents along the cliff-face,
> occasionally pitching at a swallow (nope, wasn't a Prairie Falcon: down,
> boy).
>
> As part of the discussion of 'alien' species, it seems an interesting
> aspect that at least one introduced species, Rock Dove, has *not* expanded
> into the ancestral Palearctic habitat though there's scads of it lying
> around for its taking. Any thoughts beside the obvious one that cities and
> farms offer it an easy life?
>
>
> Michael Price The only alien planet is Earth.
> Vancouver BC Canada
> mprice at mindlink.net - J. G. Ballard
>
>
>