![]() ![]() The parents take turns incubating two white eggs for 14 days. In this part of the country, mourning doves usually raise at least three broods per year. In some southern states, they breed all year long. Pairs bond for the breeding season, which runs from March through September. The simple answer is to nest early and often. In western deserts and prairies, where trees are few, they’re content to nest right on the ground.Īnother interesting question is how a species that lays only two eggs per nest is able to maintain a healthy population. Here in the east, they build a flimsy platform of twigs in both evergreen and deciduous trees along forest edges, in orchards and backyards. They eat seeds of all sorts that can be found anywhere, even at backyard feeders stocked with white millet, cracked corn and sunflower seeds. Mourning doves nest across North America, from southern Mexico into Canada. It helps to be a generalist in every sense of the word. The big biological question is, how can doves sustain such high harvest rates? A typical dove hunter uses eight shells for each dove taken, a statistic that suggests that dove hunting is indeed for sharpshooters. Erratic flight at speeds up to 70 miles per hour make this hunt among the year’s most challenging. ![]() Clearly, mourning doves are a renewable resource.ĭoves are such popular targets among hunters because they test a shooter’s skill like no other bird. Harvest numbers from other states of interest were 147,200 (Pennsylvania), 168,800 (Ohio), and 7,000 (West Virginia). In the 40 states where dove hunting is legal, Texas killed the most, (5.2 million), and Rhode Island killed the fewest (1,200). Nationally, 839,600 dove hunters killed almost 14 million doves. In the central management unit, 427,100 dove hunters killed more than 7.6 million doves in the eastern unit 310,200 hunters killed 4.9 million doves and in the west 102,300 hunters killed 1.3 million doves. The eastern population in 2014 was estimated at 68.3 million, the central population at 161.7 million, and the western population at 43.7 million.ĭove hunter numbers and harvest figures in 2014 reflect the same trends in population abundance. The USFWS uses three management units to manage dove populations – eastern, central and western.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |