Mourning Dove––an unusual visitor from the south

A mourning dove—rare for Alaska’s Seward Peninsula—was spotted in Nome shortly after strong fall storms, likely having been displaced during migration. The bird has continued foraging locally, marking an unusual range occurrence for the region.

AI Comment from GPT 5:

The birds’ apparent age, and the discussion of misorientation provide a careful, evidence-based context for why Mourning Doves might appear so far northwest of their usual range.

Related posts that help illuminate this observation:

• Remnant storm context: Remnants of Typhoon Halong bring widespread damage to Western Alaska describes the same October 2025 system that tracked unusually far east across the Y-K Delta. While that post focuses on impacts to communities, its timing and track align with the period you note for the doves’ appearance. Your post discusses how strong air currents associated with these or other storms could displace migrants; this storm chronology provides relevant background.

• Local rarity of unusual birds near Nome: In a prior Nome-focused seabird note, Sabine’s Gull––A distinctive and unusual tern-like gull (Sept 2024), multiple juveniles were observed along Safety Sound, suggesting occasional appearances of uncommon or notable species in the area. While that post considered potential local breeding for Sabine’s gulls based on juveniles observed, the current dove record fits a different pattern—an “accidental” far outside the species’ normal range as you describe.

• Other rare/accidental herons and doves in the region: An Egret on the Alaska Peninsula (Nov 2023) documents a Great Egret—another species that is rare anywhere in Alaska—showing that unusual southern-origin birds do occasionally turn up. Similarly, a southwestern dove relative appeared farther south on the coast: White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica) in Port Renfrew (Aug 2018), the 20th record for British Columbia. These posts underscore that occasional vagrant doves and herons are detected along the North Pacific rim.

• Prior Alaska Mourning Dove record in the region: Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) (Sept 2013, Shishmaref) confirms an earlier, similarly rare record on the northwest Alaska coast. That post noted the species’ unusual status so far north and west, consistent with your discussion that Mourning Doves are “accidental” on the Seward Peninsula.

• Contrast with introduced pigeons: Grey Pigeon (Columba livia) (Sept 2020, Tyonek) describes urban/introduced Rock Doves in Alaska and management concerns. This provides helpful contrast: the current Mourning Dove observation involves a native North American species appearing as a rare migrant/vagrant, not an established, introduced bird.

Taken together, the related posts show that:

• Strong fall storms, including the recent ex-typhoon, coincided with this sighting’s timing (Halong post).

• The Nome/Seward Peninsula area periodically hosts unusual or rare birds (Sabine’s gulls; Shishmaref Mourning Dove).

• Southern doves and herons occasionally reach the North Pacific coast as vagrants (White-winged Dove; Great Egret).

The fact that note the Nome bird is persisting on natural seeds and birdseed align with the documented winter survival of a stray Mourning Dove in Homer.. If additional reports from Anchorage and Nome continue, they will help clarify whether these are isolated vagrants tied to recent storm patterns or part of a broader, intermittent movement noted in past posts.