Posted by Mark McShane on March 09, 2016 at 03:10:01
Hi All, Well, like so many I really didn't want to miss seeing the Long Key Zenaida Dove. The soonest that I could try was during a 4-hour window open on the 27th. From all of the reports it seemed to my bird chasing brain, and imagination, that there was a good chance to see the bird in such a short period of time, and so I made a try, after all the dove could depart permanently at any time... and there may not be another for a very, very long time. Missed the dove on the 27th and had to go home quite empty-handed as I couldn't stay over. Monday the 29th, I left again to come down to try on Tuesday the 1st, surely having the whole day there would prove successful, right?! Nope. The dove was being seen the day before and the day after all of my attempts so far. This dove was now proving rather pesky and I wondered if it may possibly even have some quail-dove in it. The next chance was Saturday the 5th, and I would stay over on the 6th if needed, pulling out all of the stops possible. I decided to implement a 3-strikes and you're out rule (this would be the last try if I missed again). However, the third time was the charm, and per previous posts and eBird reports the Long Key Zenaida Dove quietly walked out right in front of us on the 5th about 20 minutes before the park closed and stayed in the path for 17 minutes, Wow! I'm still trying to figure it out, I mean, I really didn't mean to have a 4800 mile bird in the southeastern seven states, honest, I never even thought that such a thing might be possible (though if you are gonna have one it might as well be an ABA Code 5 bird!). I might have had an inkling though as the North Carolina Mountain Plover proved to be a 2-trip 2200-mile bird for me last month. I am glad I wasn't tested by that 3-strike guideline, er, rule. --- Some may enjoy handheld phonescoped video clips and video still frames of the dove which can be found in the 030516 ZENAIDA DOVE Long Key State Park Monroe County FL folder on my Box site at: https://app.box.com/shared/2yxtdkm3ta All also easily available on Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/50282116@N04/ --- A quick and easy view of some still frames of the dove can be had via the eBird checklist as well: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28054658 --- Handheld phonescoped video and still frames may be best viewed on a large screen. Information concerning how to use Apple MOV movie files can be read in my MOV Video File How-To.txt available at: http://www.box.com/s/ojj2lap6sayrj83n9zzx Some of the video files on the site can be a bit large and may take some minutes to download if you don't have high-speed internet access, but it may be best to download them to your desktop or somewhere on your computer before running them in QuickTime. That way they may run faster and you can keep them if you like them too. Being handheld and usually at a very high magnification they can sometimes get a little jittery, but they are still worth a look, especially since you can drag through frame by frame in QuickTime and pause the video on the best parts, playing at half speed in QuickTime can also be a good idea. --- Good Birding All! Mark Mark McShane Georgia Birder-At-Large Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, Georgia www.neargareport.com