someone in a local forums was complaining about pigeons and the mess they leave behind and disease ... etc ... , finally we discovered she was talking about doves!

That's nothing, compared to Nampa's crows.




Some years ago, we were at the lookout over Swan Falls. We noticed a badger hole by the trail to the overlook. On the way back tot he car, we see the badger is outside the hole. Approaching soccer mom calls to her kids...."come look at the cute groundhog".

Looks like you are fitting in pretty well there, persiandog.

Bonus question; Boysee or Boyzee?

there is no Z in Boise.

Winnah!

Boise=trees

Boise Cascade=trees falling

DuBois(couple of 100 miles east)= no trees.

You can tell the difference by their hats.

a female band tailed pigeon , not just a programmer

In an urban setting, she was probably referring to the eurasion collared doves. An invasive species which appeared in these parts just over ten years ago. Kill them any way you can!

Google the invasion path of the collared dove. It is originally a subtropical species. A few escaped or were released a few hundred miles East of Florida. They island hopped over several years until they hit Florida. The species spread westward quickly, until they hit the Rockies, which held them up for several years. Eventually they did make it across the Rockies and populated the Southwest for a few years. But they eventually adapted to the cold and moved North through Utah and Nevada until they hit the Treasure Valley. I am unsure if the species even migrates any more in this area, or if our resident summer birds are replaced by a winter population from further North. Either way we have a heavy population year round.

They are completely unprotected. You can kill as many as possible 52 weeks of the year. No bag limits, no tags required.

Our mourning doves are much more of a rural dweller, and they are all south for the winter now anyway.

Collared doves don't count toward the bag limit in Tennessee- - - -slightly larger than a mourning dove, but almost impossible to tell the difference when they're in flight.
Jerry

some people are writing about giving them birth control etc.. how clueless.

Avitrol works! I have used it for pigeon control. Just don't let the public find out you are doing it.

Just wait for mating season. They are loud, very loud. They sound more like some kind of hoot owl, rather than cooing as a typical dove or pigeon would.

Way different in flight.

Euro has a square tail, slower wing beat, head held higher in flight, and they fly more of a straight line than a mourning dove.

Euros look/fly more like a pigeon than a mourning dove.

some of them are not happy with shooting/killing at all , not sure what they do if their house is rodent infested !

Pretty sad statement about what Idaho has become. Hell, Boise will soon be voting D. Oh, wait!

We used to have mourning doves nest in our orchard. After the collareds appeared, the mournings are gone. I haven't seen one here in several years. The collareds aren't here in huge numbers yet but they're growing. We have them around the bird feeders all winter picking up with the other birds drop. I don't think there's any way to reverse what's happened. They're here to stay and the mournings are the victims.

I kill everyone I see!

I shoot a lot in abandoned and occupied farm yards with permission of course. People are glad to get rid of them. They are a filthy bird and make a heck of a mess.

If you launch the birth control from a modified choke 16 gauge, it works very well- - - - - -haven't seen any hatchlings from zombie doves lately!
Jerry

In the warmer states, they can raise up to 6 broods a year, usually hatching 2 chicks (or whatever baby doves are called). Call it an average of 5 broods/yr, that's a 5 fold increase every year. It's pretty hard to shoot that many.

They're spreading. This summer a count found 2 pairs at Delta Junction, AK. That's 2 hrs from Fairbanks. 1 month ago at the Christmas bird count, 1 pair was still there. For tropical birds, they can take some cold.

Birds are smarter than we give credit. When I'm hearing the Eurasian collards around my place, the mourning doves are scarce to non-existent. When I got off my butt and shoot a couple Eurasians, within about 30 minutes, I'm hearing mourning doves again. I try to keep them thinned out here most of the time, and the mourning doves seem to understand the are not threatened at my place. The nest at eye level in my yard and roost over the veggie garden.

Delta Junction, huh? That's not good.

Pigeons are bad enough. My grandfather had a two story house across the street from the school. Danged pigeons loved his roof, crapping up everything, so he took to using his 12 guage on them, shooting every one he could from his yard. In the middle of our small town. Across the street from the school. I don't know how the town ordinances read, but neither the lone city cop, nor the county Sheriff and Deputy said anything about it.

Might have been because he was county Judge.... .

This was in the 50's and early 60'w, so I don't think what we had in central ND then were the Eurasions yet. Or were they?

OK- what is the diff between the E. colored dove and pigeons?

Yeah, the dang things never shut up. Coo coo,,,coo. Coo coo,,,coo. All day long, starting at 1st light.

I read that one of the factors in their spread northward is the proliferation of backyard bird feeders. It enables them to winter in places where they normally can't.

we should give path to citizenship to EU doves.

That's what happens when you let in a bunch of Californians. PD not included, of course.

Most of them were born here and there will soon be more of them than us. They'll be giving US a path to citizenship.

See, they don't wear cowboy hats.

better this way: