Hello, All:

I drove up to Grand Lake St. Marys on August 14 to visit the ODNR Fish
Hatchery and also to try to relocate the California Gull spotted in Celina
on Monday (it was not found).  While taking the on-ramp to Route 29
westbound in St. Marys, I flushed a flock of seven Mourning Doves and
another bird, which was an almost uniform dusty brick red color pied with
white (much like the "red morph" seen occasionally in feral pigeons).

The birds put down again quickly, so I stopped the car, assuming that a
some other species was among the doves.  However, when I got the bird in my
binoculars, I discovered that the red bird was practically
indistinguishable in structure, size (maybe a tad larger), and behavior
from the other Mourning Doves.  It did have the neck spot typical of
Mourning Dove, but it was brown against the reddish background, rather than
black against gray.  Other than the patchy white spots on the wing, it was
otherwise entirely reddish.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to photograph the
bird before the flock took off to the east.

Any ideas?

Bird well,

Paul

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