Dove hunters

The size and colour of a North American mourning dove, with the dark patch below the ear that gives it the name, and a flight that is fast and straight. Córdoba holds them all year.

They work between roost and grain, which is why the shooting is organised around fields rather than around hides, and why a lodge that rotates its ground deliberately shoots better than one that returns to the nearest field twice.

A true pigeon rather than a dove, noticeably larger than the torcaza, with pale spotting on the wing that shows in good light. It carries more weight and decelerates less, so the lead that works on torcaza is usually wrong on these.

They share the same grain country and often the same fields, which is why a Córdoba day frequently includes both without anybody planning it that way.

Green, loud and unmistakable, travelling in tight flocks and building the heavy communal stick nests you see in the trees along the field edges. It is the one bird most visiting shooters have never worked before.

It flies lower and changes direction harder than a dove, so it tends to be a frustrating hour for anybody who has spent the morning on torcaza. Whether it can be taken at all, where, and in what numbers is a provincial matter we confirm in writing before you travel.