What kind of bird is this?

Quite a handsome little guy, been here about a week hanging out in my pines.
I have never seen anything like it, he is small and almost has some dove qualities about him. I can get oddly close without him flying away, he has big red bags around the eyes..
Driving me crazy, can't find anything like it in a book. I am in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

[/IMG]

Isn't that a ring round its left leg? If it's letting you get close to it, it's probably a tame bird that has escaped. You might be able to catch it and trace it through the ring.

Hmmmm...very interesing critter! It is definitely banded- and looks like an exotic. I agree with the guess that it is an escapee, but I am at work and don't have my books here to check it out. I'll look when I get home and double-check that it's not native to North America. If it is an escapee, it is probably hungry and/or thirsty. Poor thing! :sigh:

m'sparrow

He is eating well, we keep feed under a tree..
I never noticed that band! I can catch him.. Do bands reveal it's place of orgin?

As I understand it they tag/band birds all the time for studies, tracking etc. Maybe you can check here for info: Bird Banding Laboratory

-LT

If there's a number on the ring/band, it will be on record somewhere. I think they have to be unique numbers. There's probably something about it on the internet. Maybe there's an ornithologist or pigeon expert in CPF who can help with this. Mightysparrow sounds like he is - or should be, with a handle like that!

Resembles a mourning dove.

It does look very much like a mourning dove, but much smaller. The colors are more brilliant as well. Actually, when the wife first saw it she thought it was a baby dove.. Even it's movements mimic a dove.
I just told her I was going to catch it, she just laughed at me.. I catch animals for a living (alive) but it is currently turkey season, and I hunt twice a day, every day, and twice a day everyday I come home empty handed.. She doesn't have a lot of faith in my ability to capture this little fellow..
If anyone knows of an easy way to catch him let me know, even I get a chuckle out of my current approach..

In Brazil there's a bunch of them

You can easily find on google images, follow this link:

http://images.google.com.br/images?hl=pt-BR&q=rolinha&gbv=2

The bird is called "rolinha" in portuguese, or "dove" in english

This link shows exactly the one that is living on your yard:

http://www.fazendavisconde.com.br/AVES/inicial_detalhes.asp?ref=3870

It is called "rolinha diamante" (Diamond Dove), the scientific name is "Geopelia cuneata"

Many pics of them:

http://images.google.com.br/images?hl=pt-BR&q=Geopelia+cuneata&btnG=Pesquisar+imagens.&gbv=2

Cheers !

Thanks to these links I found him.. Thanks Fred.
It is a Diamond Dove

Diamond dove

FredericoFreire said:

In Brazil there's a bunch of them

You can easily find on google images, follow this link:

http://images.google.com.br/images?hl=pt-BR&q=rolinha&gbv=2

The bird is called "rolinha" in portuguese, or "dove" in english

This link shows exactly the one that is living on your yard:

http://www.fazendavisconde.com.br/AVES/inicial_detalhes.asp?ref=3870

It is called "rolinha diamante" (Diamond Dove), the scientific name is "Geopelia cuneata"

Many pics of them:

http://images.google.com.br/images?hl=pt-BR&q=Geopelia+cuneata&btnG=Pesquisar+imagens.&gbv=2

Cheers !

Click to expand...

Frederico's right. Look at this website: http://www.diamonddove.info
Seems like they're very popular as pets - it looks as if that site will tell you everything you need to know (except maybe how to catch an escaped one).

I had a friend that took a picture of a butterfly in a butterfly habitat that had a marker tag on his wing. I had a high power loupe and was able to blow up the image enough to read the number. He went to a butterfly tag registry and got the stats on the tag and updated the location of the butterfly. Tag systems like this are interesting. If you can read the bird's tag you might find out where he belongs.

I used to recall that you can catch a bird by putting salt on it's tail. Of course that could be an urban legend.

Or we used salt to catch snipes. I forget which.

I've seen that type of bird at a local pet store too. Usually bird tags have information about the breeder of the bird. It looks like the bird has adapted to life in the wild. Where I live, there are small wild parrots all over that nest in palm trees.

..should be easy to catch; just set out a large ring with a nice setting... harhar.

(btw good call Frederico!) :twothumbs

Prop up a box with a stick, and put a carrot under it.:tinfoil:

+1

Don't under estimate this method!!!

Omega Man said:

Prop up a box with a stick, and put a carrot under it.:tinfoil:

Click to expand...

Give it some raisins soaked in Brandy. When it eats them it will get drunk and fall asleep, and when you hear it snoring you will be able to go and pick it up. It would be a kind gesture to offer it a glass of water and an aspirin the following morning, as it will probably have a headache.

Did you manage to catch it yet?

You should contact local bird breeders, bird stores, and vets to let them know about it. Chances are good that this bird belongs to someone. And it's probably someone close to you, if the dove is hanging around.

When I was overseas in 95-96, my mother kept my parrot. He escaped one day. My mother took a picture of him to several local vets and the closest bird shop (about 5 miles away). 2 days later, she got a call from the shop. He had flown across the highway to another neighborhood. There, he was taken in by a family who did the right and responsible thing - they called the local vets and stores.

If that dove means as much to his owners as most pets do, they are probably hoping that someone will do what my mother's neighbors did.

Bernie just turned 14, and he's still with me, thanks to a stranger that cared enough to try to find his caretaker.

BTW - most domestically-bred birds are banded as a means to identify the bird. A local vet or breeder should be able to identify who the breeder was, and from there it's probably just a phone call to find it's owner. If the dove was tag as part of a study, they could probably tell that as well.

I still think it's a foo bird (and no I won't tell the joke)