A Rare Dove in North Bay

Every birder has their own personal twitching thresholds. Whether I am willing to chase a given bird will depend on distance, degree of rarity, special interest in the particular taxa involved, what else I have to do that day, etc.

A White-winged Dove was reported at a feeder in North Bay earlier this week. According to the report, the bird had been present since the middle of January, but its identity only became known to the homeowner (and the birding community) a few days ago. North Bay would normally be too far from Cambridge to justify a road trip to see it. However, it just so happens that this was a long weekend, and Hannah & I had previously planned to spend it in the vicinity of Algonquin P.P. While North Bay may be too far to twitch from Cambridge, it is only a hop, skip and a jump from Huntsville.

White-winged Dove

To make a long story short, we decided to start off our long weekend in North Bay, searching a residential subdivision for this rare bird. As the photograph reflects, we were successful. This represents a new Ontario bird for us both, though we have seen them before in the Southern United States and the Caribbean (where you would expect to see them).