Many thanks to Pete Davidson for allowing us to post his photos of the British Columbia Oriental Turtle-Dove.

Oriental Turtle-Dove, Delta, BC. Photo: Pete Davidson.

The bird was discovered Monday at Alaksen NWA, next door to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary.

Photo: Pete Davidson.

The past couple of days have produced no further sightings, but as Vancouver birders have noted, there are lots of dove flocks to look through up there.

An Oriental Turtle-Dove was photographed ninety minutes ago at Alaksen  NWA, British Columbia.

If the usual questions of provenance can be settled, this will be a third record for Canada and one of less than a dozen accepted reports for all of North America.

Bruce Mactavish reports a Redwing in Newfoundland, first found Tuesday and still present through at least Wednesday.

Redwing on the 2007 WINGS tour to Newfoundland. Photo: Bruce Mactavish.

A factual question this time:

What is the most abundant sandpiper in North America?

Leave your answer as a comment below. The first correct answer will win a new WINGS cap.

As Michael Bowen was the first to point out, increasing size is the key to this riddle about hawk names. His suggestion–Crane–is a good one, giving us Sparrow (Hawk), Pigeon (Hawk), Duck (Hawk), Crane (Hawk).

Andy Jones kept it neatly within the family Falconidae with his proposal, Partridge (Hawk), an obsolete name for (among other species) Gyrfalcon.

Photo: James Lidster

Both answers count as correct, while Elwood Hain’s answer, Auk, wins the prize for the most compelling and most poignant series submitted: (Dusky Seaside) Sparrow, (Passenger) Pigeon, (Labrador) Duck, (Great) Auk.

My own answer? Goose. Falconers are said to have classed their birds by size, the smallest being the Sparrow Hawk, followed by Pigeon Hawk (Merlin) and Duck Hawk (Peregrine Falcon), all of them outweighed by the Goose Hawk–which we know as Goshawk.

Michael, Andy, and Elwood will all soon be sporting their stylish new WINGS caps.