During my stay at Nassau, Bahamas I was not only able to detect this fitting front but also several birds. One of them was the Eurasian Collared Dove. I have seen them in Europe, wondering if they were migrating. You could see the doves all over and close to the human. This one in particular seemed to follow me around, at least that's what I like to believe since I had some nice encounters with them. Getting curious about it, I started a little research and found some interesting facts.

According to Green (1977) and Smith (1987), a local breeder brought the Eurasian Collared-Dove to Nassau, Bahamas, in the early 1970s. In December 1974, several individuals escaped when the aviary where they were housed was burglarized. The breeder released the remaining Collared Doves shortly thereafter--believed to be a total of no more than 50 birds. By the mid-1980s, the species was very common on Andros, Abaco, Grand Bahama, Spanish Wells, Bimini, and several of the Berry Islands. An additional population was released on Abaco from Nassau in the early 1980s to relieve hunting pressure on the native White Crowned Pigeon (Columba leucocephala) (Smith 1987). Eurasian Collared-Dove probably arrived on Abaco by natural dispersal as well.
Christina H. Romagosa, Terry McEneaney, Image Google

The Eurasian Collared Dove is considered an invasive species. In A review of the invasive Eurasian Collared Dove and possible research methods in the future, Balkan Journal of Wildlife Research you can read about the origin and the fast spread of this bird. It only took 100 years to conquer Europe and the dove is still invasive in North America.

The Collared Dove originated from India, and it has colonised the Middle East and Europe throughout the last few centuries (Stresemann & Nowak, 1958; Smith, 1987; Gorski, 1993; Romagosa & McEneaney, 1999). The colonisation of Europe occurred almost entirely within the last 100 years (Nowak, 1965; Snow & Perrins, 1998; Crooks et al., 1999; Rocha-Camerero & Hidalgo de Trucios 2002; Eraud et al., 2007), and it reached North Africa in the late 1980s, where its spread is still continuing (Hengeveld, 1993; Moali et al., 2003; Thévenot et al., 2003). Although the expansion into Europe could be considered complete, it is still spreading in North America as an invasive species (Romagosa & McEneaney, 1999; Romagosa & Labisky, 2000; Hooten & Wikle, 2008; Fujisaki et al., 2010; Bled et al., 2011).

This spread has consequences.

Invasive species are considered the second major cause of global biodiversity loss, directly behind habitat destruction (Wilcove et al., 1998).

The Collared Dove prefers a warmer climate. Its invasion is supported by the global climate change. Temperature changes occur all over and that means colder regions become more habitable. Cereal production areas with a lot of grain spillage will see a rise. The dove prefers a rural area, often with agriculture around and nearby cities. They also are abundant in coastal areas like in the Bahamas.

This warming may have been responsible for range expansion directly through the effects of elevated minimum temperatures that fit the niche of Collared Dove, and also indirectly by increasing the availability of agricultural habitats. The results of Scheidt and Hurlbert (2015) confirmed that land cover and climate both have important effects on the population growth rates and carrying capacities of Collared Dove populations.

They do like suburban garden areas so the surroundings were not only perfect for us but for them as well.

We stayed in a small bungalow at Sandals Royal Bahamian and while enjoying the soothing atmosphere of a tropical morning I often had a visitor. I can only recommend trying to be as close to nature as possible, this often brings enlightening and funny moments.

Every morning I saw this one sneaking up. Deep inside I was cheering but I had to stay calm, to not scare her away. I think she had a long night and was up for a coffee.

She finally gained some trust so I could take this picture. It is always a magical moment having an encounter like that. She just hung out with me for a couple of minutes. What a great way to start a day at the Bahamas.

You see, one of the most successfully expanding vertebrate species in the world is a pretty neat bird and has therefore attracted special scientific focus. We shouldn't forget that not only natural developments have enabled this species to become successful, it is in big parts ourselves causing a fading bio diversity. Representative for that some pictures of an Eurasian Collared Dove skull.

_{Welcome to Annas world. She is a studied animal psychologist and has a broad interest in nature and questions about being. She is an autodidact that loves to explore and has a good portion of humor.}

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