[Ruff Hunter]

This is a photo of Idaho's newest invasive bird species, the Eurasian Collared Dove. The juveniles in the photo are the smaller birds lacking the black neck collar. They first started showing up in northern Idaho about three years ago. Their population seems to be multiplying fast. The adults are at least half again the size of the native mourning dove, and they are said to displace mourning doves from feeding and nesting sites. They are currently an unprotected species in Idaho, like starlings. We don't yet have a huntable population in northern Idaho that I'm aware of, but they do exist in sufficient numbers in southeast Idaho, around the large scale dairy farms, from what I've been told. I was wondering how many members have seen these birds in their state too, and whether anyone has been shooting them in the off season. A friend of mine advises that they are quite good eating, and the extra size over the mourning dove makes for a more practical meal. These are odd birds to observe. They appear clumsy in flight and especially so when landing. They also like to land on odd objects and limbs that our wild birds would not typically utilize. When I first observed one using the bird feeder, I thought it was an escaped homing pigeon, as it almost seemed to exhibit domesticated characteristics.