Common Ground-Dove

John Woodcock and I found this young bird on August 14, 2003. We were about to end banding for the day when while we were watching the lake, an odd bird flew in from the north. This bird had rufuous colouring on it's wing and was something very odd indeed. Closer looks at it revealed it to be a young Common Ground-Dove only the second record for Ontario and the first record to be seen living! The other record was of a specimen which had been killed by a truck near Red Rock on October. 29, 1968! We never caught the bird but at one point the bird was in one of the traps, but was able to fly out and escaped!

These photos were taken by Allan Gilbert of Thunder Bay.