Inca Dove

Overview
Inca Dove: Small dove with scaled, pale gray-brown upperparts, white throat, and scaled, pale buff (often with pink wash) underparts. The tail is long and squared with a black-bordered gray center and edged in white. Black bill, pink legs and feet. Direct flight with rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat
Inca Dove: Resident from southwest U.S. to tropical America. Frequents open country with scattered trees or scrubby growth, generally in arid or semi-arid locations around cultivated areas, farmlands, parks, and gardens.

The Inca Dove is native to Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras. It is also sometimes a visitor to Canada and Belize. The range of this bird species is almost 3 million square kilometers. The population of the Inca Dove is estimated at almost 2 million individuals. The previous rating for the Inca Dove was Lower Risk. That rating was downgraded to Least Concern due to the size of the population and range of the Inca Dove. At this time there are not any threats facing the Inca Dove.

INTERESTING FACTS
Despite being named after the Inca Empire, the Inca Dove does not occur in any of the lands that constituted that region. Because they fly directly to water, with no searching about, early west Texas travelers would often watch doves to locate water holes. During winter, they roost in communal huddles in a pyramid formation that helps them conserve heat. These pyramids can contain up to 12 birds. A group of doves has many collective nouns, including a "bevy", "cote", "dole", "dule", and "flight" of doves.