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Science/nature/environment

Collared Doves

(10 Posts)
annodomini Tue 16-Jan-18 13:28:27

I often see collared doves in my gardens but have never seen more than two at a time. However, yesterday there were eight of them foraging for something at the end of my garden. I wondered if there were other birds that looked like these doves but can't find anything of that kind. I didn't think that they were flocking birds, but perhaps they are flocking together because of the weather and need for nourishment.

Anniebach Tue 16-Jan-18 13:34:55

I often see four or five sitting in a tree close to my house

mollie Tue 16-Jan-18 13:41:10

I get seven or eight most days.

Marelli Tue 16-Jan-18 14:35:25

We have quite a lot, too. Just counted 5 sitting in the tree at the bottom of the garden, along with 3 wood pigeons. ☺️

OldMeg Tue 16-Jan-18 14:52:30

According to the RSPB they like to feed in flocks.

Nonnie Tue 16-Jan-18 15:18:43

I thought they were endangered! We have a couple, I'm assuming the same couple, which come to our on the window feeders all the time. I suspect they inhibit the smaller birds which never seem to come to that feeder but go to one on another window.

nanaK54 Tue 16-Jan-18 15:48:20

We have several here

Greyduster Tue 16-Jan-18 15:53:26

We don’t have them in large numbers but see a couple or three most days. I quite like them. They aren’t endangered but they are - or were - protected. However they have reached nuisance proportions and can be shot under licence.

cavewoman Tue 16-Jan-18 16:16:03

According to BBC Discover Wildlife, since 2005 the numbers of collared doves have been in decline,even though they are still in the top 10 resident birds.
There was much excitement in Norfolk in the mid 1950s when they bred for the first time
I am amazed they are so prolific as their nests are so poorly constructed. Every year I pick up fallen eggs below the porch where they drop from the couple of twigs they call a nest!

Welshwife Tue 16-Jan-18 17:56:21

We have three which come into out garden - they seem to be a pair and a single one trying to muscle in. One day we saw a much larger number and all making a noise - we went to investigate where they had been assembled and found a dead dove on the grass - nothing apparently wrong with it. Gradually the small flock broke up. DH buried the dove.