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Digital Tobago |
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Digital Photography |
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By Bob Brent |
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I Home I Digital Photography I Wildlife I About/Contact I Site Map I |
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AVIFAUNA INDEX : |
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Avifauna A - Z : Eared Dove |
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Order : Columbiformes |
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Family : Doves (Columbidae) |
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Name : Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata) |
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Made up of three families in two suborders; Columbae (pigeons, Doves, Dodoes, Solitaires) and Pterocletes (Sand grouse) where the extinct Dodoes and Solitares make up the family Raphidae, and Pigeons and Doves the family Columbidae. The names Pigeon and Dove are interchangeable having no biological distinction. |
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Made up of about 285 similar species of bird, the Pigeon family is widely dispersed, being absent only from the Arctic, Antarctic and some Oceanic Islands. Pigeons are unique in that they produce a secretion similar to mammalian milk for their young, and in their ability to suck water in a continuous draft by muscular contractions whereas other birds take a sip of water, then tip back the head to swallow. |
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Length : 22 - 26 cm ( 9 - 10 in ) |
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A terrestrial bird, the Eared dove appears to be spreading slowly Northwards from continental South America. Like many of this family, this Dove feeds mainly on seed taken from the ground either alone or in small groups. The Eared Dove is medium sized, greyish brown with black ont he wing covets, with black and violet markings on the side of the head. The nest is a cup of twigs usually placed fairly low in the fork of a tree branch, commonly that of a Mangrove tree where two white eges are laid. Both parents incubate and rear the young. |