Mystery Bird. Any suggestions?

[JOdel]

A friend of mine down in Signal Hill saw this bird lurking on her balcony and wondered what it was. I have no idea. Looks like some kind of dove to me.

She was very curious about it because it was quite a large bird, and she had no idea what it could be. She claims that it was about the size of a football, which would be quite sizable for a bird.

 

[Stezza]

it's a pigeon.. either a feral or a lost racing pigeon.. if it has ID tags on it's legs it's more than likely a racing pigeon.

 

[Rowan54]

Yep, pigeon. There are several varieties of pigeon/dove and some of them are bigger than others.

 

[JOdel]

That's what I thought as well. But she was convinced that it had to be something else because of the size.

 

[Rowan54]

Columbidae - Wikipedia
Apparently pigeons (depending on species) range from the size of a sparrow to about 30 inches, which is way bigger than a football. The wild ones I've seen out in these woods occasionally are considerably bigger than the rock doves everyone sees in the cities.

 

[Flint_Hawk]

It looks like the Rock Pigeon at the top of this page-
Rock Pigeon

 

[JOdel]

Yup that looks like it all right. I suspect that she was misjudging the size since it was some distance above the balcony.

 

[HaiGan]

Yep, there's several species of pigeon or dove, in a range of sizes (same way as the crow family has a range).

 

[Miss B]

We always have pigeons of various sizes around here, but I don't recall ever seeing one with the Rock Pigeon's coloring. I'm going to have to check more closely to see if I spot one. Most of the ones I see here are two tone gray.

 

[HaiGan]

I think the most characteristic part of the various pigeon species as a whole is the head (and it's proportion with the body), and the beak.

 

[McGyver]

It’s a Bohemian Football Dove, Columba Beatnikus Footballakus...
The Bohemian Football Dove was first described in 1758 by the Scottish botanist Charles Alston who initially mistook it for a small flying shrub and named it the Rhododendron Chicken. The birds immediately became quite popular with wealthy fashion conscious women, as at the time, wearing all sorts of shrubbery on one’s head was very fashionable. The doves fit neatly onto one’s head, kept the wearer warm and their dropping were believed to be good for the scalp.
By the the early 1800s the birds faded more or less into obscurity until around the late 1860s when players on Princeton’s early football team noticed the birds made good substitutes for their footballs... in fact the very first football game between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869 used only football doves and no actual ball. The birds were later phased out as their habit of flying away after being kicked about repeatedly and changes in the way the game was played (no more ballet costumes and coconut bras) made the doves less interesting.
The football dove’s closest relative in the Columba genus is the Canadian Hockey Puck Pigeon.
The football dove is slated to replace the desert quail as the official national bird of Molossia in 2028.
According to a description in a 1908 copy of Audubon’s Guide to Kickable Birds, the call of the Bohemian Football Dove is “Hoo-hoo, hoo arr yoo, hoo-hoo, hoo r yoo, I really wanna know, hoo r yoooooooo”
Nesting occurs in early spring mostly in vacation bungalows the adult birds rent in late winter when the prices are generally lower. Usually between zero and two squabs are hatched per brood with both parents caring for the young.
Football doves are mostly monogamous, but have been know to appear on reality shows where they have been seen cheating on their spouses.

 

[Miss B]

I sooooo miss you McGyver when you're not here posting your wonderful interpretations on our forum.

 

[Rowan54]

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I guess the bird expert should chime in here... yes, it's a rock dove (aka feral pigeon)

 

[McGyver]

I guess the bird expert should chime in here... yes, it's a rock dove (aka feral pigeon)

Nope... Football Dove... totally not made up either.
I refute your claim of a dove made entirely out of rock... maybe Plaster of Paris or even Plaster of Lyon (lighter by more pretentious)... but rock?
Rocks can’t fly... I suppose meteors can... but that’s more of a fall... and l suppose that actor Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson looked like he was flying a helicopter in one of his movies... okay, maybe rocks can fly, but still....
I suppose you think I made up the Canadian Hockey Puck Pigeon too?
Wait... did I?…
Thats not important... I can prove I didn’t make up Canada or hockey pucks...
That would be a lot of work, so I’m gonna pass on that, but you can’t tell me that looking at that bird you don’t want to play football with it... if not kicking it, then at least running around in a big open field throwing footballs to it...
I’ll grant that this alleged bird (if it’s even a bird and not an odd shaped wooden knot on the fence), could possibly be into rock and roll... maybe even heavy metal, but where is the tiny concert shirt or the electric guitar?
No... no I stand my my original claim that this is a poodle in a pigeon costume.
In fact I’m wondering if you are connected to this poodle somehow... there have been a rash of poodle-in-pigeon costume burglaries nationwide recently and I’m starting to wonder....
It’s not a huge leap for one to go from expert 3D model maker to super villain overnight...
I’ve seen it happen many times... actually once... I read about it... maybe... or it was a really weird dream...
but it’s totally possible...
The stress, the long hours, the loyal fans, the crazy people responding to your posts... it’s just a matter of time that any normal person, let alone a 3D content creator would just snap and start grabbing poodles and stuffing them in pigeon costumes to go out and do their bidding...
I totally understand, I snapped long ago and I’m not even a halfway decent model maker...
I’m mostly indecent... I’m fact I’m indecent right now...
I really should put some clothes on...
but I’d understand the poodle thing... it was a brilliant idea.
In fact I’ve been training squirrels to rob a bank for me... so far they just bite me and run off, but I feel I’m getting close...
Anyway... you probably have some poodles to stuff into pigeon costumes, so good luck.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I suppose you you're going to tell me next that birds like Pheonicopterus festuca plasticus and Ramphastos frootloopsensis aren't real...

 

[Flint_Hawk]

Ken!

 

[McGyver]

I suppose you you're going to tell me next that birds like Pheonicopterus festuca plasticus and Ramphastos frootloopsensis aren't real...

I didn’t realize the plastic flamingo was endangered! I recently went into a dollar store and saw many of them for sale... I briefly entertained the idea of purchasing several dozen to irk my wife... but now I have an actual excuse to purchase them if I encounter them again...
Excellent work on that info page!

 

[Rowan54]

Did you know there are also alien plastic flamingos? In green with slanty black alien eyes? I spotted some in the local town a while back. It was too dark to get a good picture, unfortunately. Of course, that might have been only the result of one UFO landing...there was quite the collection of alien artifacts in that one yard.

 

[HaiGan]

Do you know there are also alien plastic flamingos? In green with slanty black alien eyes?

Are you sure those were not Ardea cinerea plasticus? Those frequent habitats with goldfish ponds and in some cases can become green due to the symbiotic relationship they develop with algae.