[cobirds] Local lens focused on Ken Caryl Valley: winter MODO

This afternoon a Mourning Dove flew in to visit my front yard feeding station, right where they go in the nesting season all the time. But this is not the nesting season. And that's why the whistle of its descending wings caught my ear right off. It turns out that, while this familiar bird is regular (though fairly uncommon) in winter here and there east of the Hogbacks from me, this was the first time I've seen a MODO in the winter season at the Ken Caryl Valley area in 9 years of watching (closely). This is to say they must occur only rarely in this valley in this season. In my home area I've seen MODO's from the last week of March to the first week of October, and once later that month. 

Although a minor thrill for me today, such local appearances seem sort of trivial. But when you pair them with a lot of looking over some years, and careful records (thank you eBird), then they mean something more. There are nuances in bird distributions that are fun to appreciate.I am just near the margin of the species' normal winter distribution, but beyond it, it seems.  And I wonder, are the MODO individuals wintering in this area present year-round, maybe a small number of individuals shifting locally after nesting, while most depart? Or are these from far off nesting places. My dove today looked like it was on familiar ground, but who can say?

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

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