Birders,

The Cawston, BC Christmas Bird Count, held on December 29,
recorded a total of 174 EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES-- up from
the 155 seen there on last winter's count. Three "hybrid
collared-doves" were also reported.

This is only the third year for this relatively new Christmas Bird Count,
which logged 72 species this year. It is centered just south of
Keremeos in the Similkameen Valley of south-central BC.

This introduced population of Eurasian Collared-Doves has
apparently been present since the late 1970s, although it became
known to local birders only in 2001.

It is possible that some of the Eurasian Collared-Doves being seen in
eastern Washington and NE Oregon are stragglers from this southern
interior BC population. However, the population is very localized in
the lower Similkameen Valley. To date, there have been only scattered
sightings in the next valley to the east, which is the heavily-birded
Okanagan Valley.

Thanks to Doug Brown, compiler of the Cawston CBC, for the
information.


Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net