Mourning DovesWe're hearing from folks around NH that some of them think Mourning Dove numbers are down right now. We haven't seen any Mourning Doves at our feeders for quite a while. In winter MODOs (abbreviation for Mourning Dove) form flocks that drift about a given area as food sources change. These flocks may remain fairly stable in menbership through winter and even have a fixed social hierarchy. Are any of you seeing a drop in Mourning Dove numbers, or not?
Other birds being seen in NH are a Snowy Owl, a few lingering warblers, Northern Harriers and White-winged Crossbills. For the last few days we have had flocks of White-winged Crossbills fly over our house. Watch for them to show up in other areas of the country.
On the puppy front, we made it through 3 nights with her sleeping through the night without a sound. We're working on leash training, house-training, coming when called, and socialization by meeting lots of our friends. She and Phoebe played lots yesterday and wore one another out. A tired puppy is a happy puppy.
9 comments:
Still seeing a few MODOs here in SE Virginia. I can usually spot a half-dozen or so under my feeders at any given point throughout the day eating sunflower & safflower seeds.
Here at my house in New Boston, I have quite the group of mourning doves. They are around year long...currently there are about six of them on the ground under the feeders. BRRR though, it is cold for them today!!!!
Mourning Doves are doing well here in Southern California. We started the early spring with a pair and now have 6 some of which I am sure were raised nearby earlier this year. They are at our feeder daily. Love your Welsh Corgi. My parents bought one for me when I was about 9 years old. It was delivered by train from a kennels in Nottinghamshire, but died from distemper after only a few weeks. We called him Taffy of course. I found my own replacement some time later, if you have the time and are interested you can go to my blog flamblogger.blogspot.com and scroll to October 28. I called that post rather misleadingly, "Computers, Love'em or Hate'em" but it tells about my dog Rip. I lived in England until I was 22 then moved to Canada and the States. I too, am an arm chair birder!
I count birds for Cornell's Project Feeder Watch here in Antrim, NH and just yesterday I had 19 mourning doves on the ground eating. Nice number to be able to pass in at the end of the weekend.
Mourning Doves are a "check" here in upstate New York. 8 during Project FeederWatch today, and 11 during my count period last week.
Sounds like Snowy Owls are appearing in many locales in the northeast. One was found floating in the Hudson River near Albany before being rescued.
http://wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.com/the_zen_birdfeeder/2008/11/bird-news-in-the-region.html
Not sure how many my parents have in Madbury, but I would guess at least 20 (though I suspect more) when I was there yesterday. No shortage for them! We have a few at our feeder but we don't put out cracked corn like we used to.
One bird I don't see in the yard anymore is Mockingbirds. They used to nest in the area every year, now I see them much less frequenty. Seem's they have been replaced by Catbirds.
I have at least 6 Mourning Doves every day here in Ohio, it's getting cold and snowy but they still show up every morning under the feeders.
I hope that the doves don't decline. I have about 15 that come to my feeder, they are very cool birds!!!!
As another poster said, Mourning Doves are thriving in Southern California. All dove species seem to be doing well there. I recently moved back to the Bay Area and I haven't seen so many here. Where I live in Richmond I only see and hear Collared Doves. In Berkeley and Oakland I see a few MODO's here and there. In Alamdea I see both. Mourning Doves certainly seem muchy less common in this area than they used to be.
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