San Diego County Bird #219: White-winged Dove

White-winged Dove. Borrego Springs, California. January 26, 2014. Greg Gillson.

I always think of this dove as endemic to the deserts of the Southwest. However they are more widely distributed, occurring from Texas to southern California, south to northern south America. It also is found in the Caribbean--Cuba, Bermuda, and recently to Florida. And it is expanding its breeding range. These birds frequently show up in fall well north of their normal range--I've seen singletons twice on the southern Oregon Coast.

White-winged Dove is the 219th species of bird I've seen in San Diego, County.

Additionally, as part of my goal to see 300 species of birds in San Diego, County in 2014, this is San Diego County Year Bird #152. This is my final new species of the year for January. I still have a long way to go to reach 300--I'll need to see over 80 species I've never yet seen within the county, plus almost 70 species I've seen before. Interestingly, though, according to eBird reports, over 275 species have already been seen in San Diego County in January 2014. So there are many species for me to see yet this winter.