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The very first new to me bird that I saw while in Texas in April was the White-winged Dove. I’ve wanted to see one since I first heard Stevie Nicks sing On the Edge of Seventeen way back in the 80’s.
They are so much more colorful than I thought they’d be with their orange eyes, contrasting blue eye lore, and orange red legs and feet.
White-winged Dove
Fun Facts:
- In the Sonoran Desert, nesting White-winged Doves eat mostly the nectar, pollen, fruit, and seeds of the saguaro cactus. They’re so dependent on the saguaro they time their migration and nesting to match its fruiting schedule. Saguaro seeds are the only small seeds that a White-winged Dove will bother with—possibly because they sit in a large, cup-shaped fruit that makes them easy to eat.
- Like other doves and pigeons, White-winged Doves have some unusual abilities. They can suck and swallow water without moving their heads. And they use a secretion from the esophagus, known as crop milk, to feed nestlings. Both parents may consume snails and bone fragments to help their bodies create the nutritious fluid.
- Although the White-winged Dove is mostly resident in the Southwest, it is expanding its range, and individuals can be found far afield. White-winged Doves have been seen from Alaska to Ontario, Maine, Newfoundland, and most places in between.
- During the twentieth century, habitat loss and heavy hunting led to a serious drop in White-winged Dove populations in Texas—from as many as 12 million to fewer than 1 million by 1939. But with proactive management of hunting and the species’ ability to adapt to urban living, the population rebounded to some 2.2 million by 2001, and its range is still expanding.
- In the early 1980s, the singer Stevie Nicks introduced millions of Americans to the White-winged Dove with her song “Edge of Seventeen,” which hit #11 on the Billboard charts.
- The oldest White-winged Dove on record was at least 21 years and 9 months old. It was banded in Arizona in 1958 and recovered in Mexico in 1980.
I’m birding this morning so will be late reading your posts and comments.
Have a lovely week-end everyone!
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
Beautifully sharp photo, Deborah! Exciting to add a new bird to your list as well 😊
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Unfamiliar with the song, I looked up its genesis:
The Title’s Origin The phrase “edge of seventeen” came from a conversation with Jane Benyo, the first wife of Tom Petty. Jane told Stevie Nicks that she and Tom met “at the age of 17”. Because of Jane’s thick Southern accent, Nicks heard “edge of seventeen” instead of “age of seventeen”. Nicks loved the sound of the phrase and promised to use it for a song title.The Shift Into Grief Nicks originally planned a lighter song about Tom and Jane. However, in December 1980, tragedy struck. John Lennon was murdered in New York City, and during the exact same week, Nicks’ beloved uncle Jonathan passed away from cancer. Devastated, Nicks flew to Arizona to be with her family. The heavy shock and sorrow of these losses changed the tone of the song entirely, turning it into a powerful anthem about grief, mortality, and the swift passage of time. The White-Winged Dove While in Phoenix, Arizona, during this painful time, Nicks looked at a restaurant menu. A line on the menu read: “The white wing dove sings a song that sounds like she’s singing ooh, ooh, ooh.” Captivated by the imagery, she used the white-winged dove as a poetic metaphor for the departing spirit of both John Lennon and her uncle.
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Indeed, this was just a lyric in a song to me until I saw this beauty today. It is heartening to read the population is on the way back up. I’ve always been fascinated with saguaros, and it was equally fascinating to read how closely these doves “bond” with them. Beautiful picture (and song!), Deborah.
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