RARE DOVE USHERS IN BIRDING SEASON

ROCHEPORT, Mo. -- Wilbert and Irene Janke are only casual naturalists. They enjoy watching birds around their home in Rocheport, near the Missouri River west of Columbia. But the appearance of an Inca dove in their yard recently catapulted them to overnight celebrity among serious "birders."

Early in March, an astute birdwatcher noticed a smallish dove in the Jankes' yard. The Audubon Society of Missouri added the report to its Missouri Rare Bird Alert hot line. Within days their yard became a Mecca for Show-me State birders, who made the pilgrimage from the state's four corners to see a bird only known to have appeared in Missouri once before.

Besides being smaller than the mourning dove familiar to Missourians, the Inca dove is lighter colored. Black-edged feathers give its body a scaled appearance. The Inca dove is common in Mexico and the southwestern United States. But unlike the mourning dove, it is not migratory and seldom is seen outside New Mexico, Arizona and bordering states. When it took up semi-permanent residence in the Jankes' yard, it gave Missouri birders a rare opportunity to add this species to their "life lists" without a 1,000-mile journey.

Jim D. Wilson, an ornithologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, could only speculate about how an Inca dove ended up in Missouri. He says the bird in the Jankes' yard might have come to Missouri on its own power, looking for a nesting territory to call its own. Or, he says it might have accidentally hitched a ride here after entering a railroad box car. "It's kind of a bewildering question, since this is a non-migratory species," says Wilson.

Missouri birders will have other surprises this spring due to unusual weather conditions. Wilson says unusually warm weather in March already has changed the itineraries of some birds whose migratory paths are short. Ducks that normally linger in Missouri throughout March already have left, and field sparrows, rufous-sided towhees and turkey vultures have arrived in the state ahead of schedule. Temperature and the availability of food are important in triggering the movement of these and other short-distance migrants.

In contrast, birds that travel long distances take their cues from the length of daylight hours, which is a more reliable seasonal clock. "A bird that has to invest enough energy to fly across the Gulf of Mexico can't afford to arrive in Missouri and find snow on the ground and no food," says Wilson. "The timing of their migration is more precise." He says Missourians can expect the migration of terns, warblers, hummingbirds and other long-distance migrants to peak in late April as usual.