[Tweeters] Band-tailed Pigeons and Eurasian-collared Doves

[Dennis Paulson via Tweeters]

Hans, we do see a few Band-taileds coming to our feeders all winter, but for the most part I don’t think I’m seeing as many as I used to (36 in the yard was a maximum). However, 16 of them showed up in the yard at once on one day in December, and there are at least a few on most days now.

There is no doubt that collared-doves have declined dramatically. I don’t see them at all at places in Skagit County where they were fairly common some years ago. I’m still seeing them in small numbers on visits to Dungeness and Ocean Shores, and I think they are still spread thinly over the landscape. But it has been noted before that they have declined, and this isn’t a rare thing after population booms.

During what might be called an invasion, populations build up substantially, and then at some point they may start using up resources (hard to imagine in this case) and/or predators home in on them (more likely, as Cooper’s Hawks and Peregrine Falcons can’t get enough of them). But those are speculations, without any hard evidence, and there may be other factors in play (disease?). In any case, this dove is a striking example of that phenomenon in our region. Christmas Bird Counts would show this pattern well, and presumably eBird would with a lot more digging. Maybe Cornell has some data sets showing this clearly.

Dennis Paulson
Seattle


> On Feb 23, 2025, at 11:59 PM, Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> 

> Today I had a pair of Band-tailed Pigeons visit my feeders. Previously, on February 16th, I had a single Band-tailed Pigeon in my yard. This was a First-Of-Year sighting. I used to have these pigeons year round, even though years ago I would have 20 or more. Nowadays I only get 6 to 10.

> I have seen a lot of reports of Band-taileds spring appearances, while I had them all winter, not this winter!

> Another question I have is the lack of Eurasian-collared Doves. I have yet to see one this year. After we were being invaded over the last few\years, you used to find them almost anywhere. Now they seem to be gone and I do not think that they started migrating! Has anybody else seen any in Western Washington  lately?

> 

> Good Birding!

> 

> Hans

> 

> -- 

> Hans Feddern

> Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA

> thefedderns at gmail.com <mailto:thefedderns at gmail.com>

> _______________________________________________

> Tweeters mailing list

> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20250224/45e0e867/attachment.html>