Eurasian Collared-Dove

The Eurasian collared-dove is a stocky, pale gray dove about a foot long, weighing just 4 to 6 ounces. Sexes look alike. A thin black half-collar, edged in white, wraps the back of the neck — the feature that gives the bird its name. The tail is long and squared off, gray above with white-tipped outer feathers, showing black at the base and white at the tip from below. The species started out across Asia and the Middle East, spread through Europe over the 20th century, and reached the Bahamas before establishing in Florida — from there it has pushed across most of North America. It feeds mainly on grass seed and waste grain, often turning up wherever agriculture and development give it an easy meal.