Photo credit: Photographer: Alastair Rae. Source: Wikipedia Commons (Some rights reserved).

It’s a word I made up–a simple anagram–from Dovekie (also Little Auk), an Arctic sea bird I’ve never had the pleasure to see in the feather.

The happy, beautiful Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) describes them: 

Little auks float on the waves as chubby fishnet bobbers. They often spend days in the same place, such as a harbor. Yet it’s not usually that easy to spot little auks. They often live far out at sea. The best chance of seeing one is after a major western November storm. The starling-sized birds are then blown towards the coast. After such a storm, they are even found on the mainland, in the strangest places: in a woods or in the middle of a city.

Want to see something very cool?  This website shows the range of the Dovekie. I’m pleased to see that they aren’t a threatened species but their population may be decreasing, according to EOL.  Other interesting things about this bird: they are monogamous; the female lays only one (large) egg in a breeding pair per year.  The male “claims” this nesting site.  EOL writes “The nest is defended by the male, and fighting over nest sites will occur between males. This mainly involves relatively harmless grappling and interlocking of bills.”  Both parents take care of their only child.

Photo credit: Michael Haferkamp http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AlleAlle_2.jpg

Greenland is not on my bucket list so I’ll probably never see one but they sure are adorable.

Ed. note: This will officially introduce KieDove as one of our staff. She is, will be and has tried to be an able helper for the MST walking wounded who come here.  she is also terribly knowledgeable about the disease process. Her husband is the common link to us. We are not equipped, per se, to help everyone find a way through the VA maze. We try to keep you up to speed with the most salient issues of our era- Vietnam and the peacetime service in its wake that encompassed the majority of the Hepatitis C claims and the beginning of all the woe associated with the  7 Vietnam rainbow defoliants. We share that commitment with Hadit.com and their family. Remember, there is only one patient-the Vet. It makes no difference who shows us how to fix the problem. Like doctors, first you do no harm.