I don't understand doves. At the first cool snap in the fall, they are gone from the Dalotas and Kansas, where I hunt them.
But I have 15-20 at my bird feeder in the Minneapols area every day all winter long. And we have seen a good bit of sub zero weather.
Having studied up considerable on birds over the years I believe COLD per se, does not usually kill birds, certainly not as temperate a species as mourning doves anyway. There are numerous incidents of summer birds even down to the size of hummingbirds surviving long into northern winters as far north as Alaska as long as they had a reliable supply of food.
Feathers are EXCELLENT insulation, I believe the incidence of ice forming overnight on the white-wing doves head being an illustration of that. Ice against the actual skin of the head would AFAIK quickly and fatally chill the bird, OTOH roosting birds are often covered with snow, so little heat escaping through the feathers that no snow melts to wet the bird.
Lack of FOOD however will kill most birds in a matter of just three or four days. Their metabolisms are cranked so high that they rarely freeze to death per se, what happens is they run out of the fuel in the form of body fat needed to fuel that high metabolism and body heat and burn out suddenly and quickly.
I suspect those dead doves are separated from their usual seed crop by ice and snow.
White-winged doves are a special case in that, being essentially a tropical species, their fleshy feet that enable them to climb somewhat like a parrot when feeding (I have never seen this) are especially vulnerable to freezing. If they lose too many toes they cannot walk or perch and so die of starvation. This I believe is the major factor at present limiting their spread northwards.
I have not heard the same thing about Asiatic Collared Doves.
Birdwatcher
