Brief by Central Staff
Wildlife – May 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
We sometimes worry about the cultural and economic effects of California humans moving into Central Colorado, and now the ecologists may need to wonder about a bird.
Marty Mitchell spotted an unusual bird in her Saguache yard during early April — apparently a rare one, since she had to consult three different guidebooks before one had it.
It was a ringed turtle dove, “with a very pleasant coo,” she said. According to the book, this kind of dove lives only in Southern California and its preferred habitat there is public parks, presumably because of the food supply of scraps and leavings.
Just how it arrived in Colorado is a total mystery, but we’re not surprised that Marty spotted it. She and her husband, Blair Meerfeld, also reported an “Owens sighting” in February — they spotted the governor buying toothpaste in the Salida Wal-Mart when he was in town to address the Chaffee County Republicans’ Lincoln Day dinner.
