Birdy business

After a couple of very chilly days, my bedroom window was open when I woke early this morning. I just stayed in bed and listened.  The pigeons were cooing.  The early train went by.  I rarely ever just lay in bed and listen to the world.  I need to do more of this.

There other bird sounds of early morning, but this cooing is quite distinctive and different.  At first I thought it was an owl, but it was always in the morning that I would hear it and occasionally through the day.  It didn't call at night like owls commonly do.  A week or so ago, I saw the bird sitting in the trees as it flew around the neighbourhood.  Pigeon of some sort and for a while, that satisfied me.

Till today.  I went looking for what kind of pigeon.  It was different than ones I was familiar with.  Skinner about the neck and longer to with a very smoothly feathered body.  Just quite distinctive.  After doing a little bit of research at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, according to all the birdy places out there, the bird place on the internet,  I think it is a Eurasian Collared Dove.  The link will take you to the sound of it's call. More than any other bird call, this is what the bird I hear so clearly in the morning sounds like. A tropical invader who for some odd reason is travelling north.  

Obviously, I am going to need to identify it not just by call, but by sight but that should be easy enough to do.  It will just take a little bit of time and tea on the back deck.

What an amazing web site find.  I love that they have the sounds not just as sounds, but sounds of distress calls, calls of all sorts.  

And that is what I am doing this morning.  Just listening to bird sounds.  Not a bad way to start a day.