These doves are extremely common throughout most of South America, especially in settled areas. It is similar to the closely related Mourning Dove (Z. macroura), but Eared Dove has a shorter tail and a heavier bill. Like the Mourning Dove, Eared Doves are hunted extensively and in some areas are considered an agricultural pest.
HBW, IOC and Clements recognize 11 subspecies, but Goodwin "Pigeons and Doves of the World" (1983) allows only five, pointing out that most of the other named subspecies are ill-defined or intermediate. Regardless of taxonomy, this is the nominate race found in southern South America. It is paler on the belly than the darker races found further north. This species was formerly placed in the genus Zenaidura but merged into Zenaida by the AOU in the 32nd supplement following Goodwin (1958). Goodwin argued that Eared Dove having 14 tail feathers while the others have only 12 was not reason enough to place these otherwise closely related species into separate genera.
Canon SX50 HS (top three).
Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope 3 | 30X WA | hand-held (no adapter)