A Pigeon and a Pine

The scientific name of the band-tailed pigeon is no longer Columba fasciata, but is Patagioenas fasciata. That’s too bad because I was hoping to start a new dance craze called The Columba. Patagioenas does not sound like a dance craze, but is a combination of two Ancient Greek words meaning clatter and pigeon. The genus was first used in the naming of the white-crowned pigeon in 1853 and it now includes 17 species. It was applied to the band-tailed pigeon while I was sleeping. My apologies to my birder friends. That said, I will still be dancing The Columba this summer, especially when it rains.

Southwest white pine is a magnificent native pine. If you are having trouble identifying it in a forest of towering conifers, look on the ground for the easily recognized cones, then look up.

The photos are mine of some cones on the ground and of a couple young plants in nursery containers.  Yes, I have a handful of sweet little Pinus strobiformis here at home…I can’t help myself.