My garden is popular with black/brown birds, sparrows, robins, jackdaws, wood pigeons and collared doves but today as i fed the birds in my garden i looked up at the silver birch tree and after counting i counted a total of 19 collared doves which i was gobsmacked at the number of them together as i have never experienced so many, but what i would like to know is why so many? As i only usually see perhaps two-four at most together, so to see 19 together was a wow moment, so i am just curious?
Hello Mr Ducklng
Goodness me what a wonderful sight to see so many,like you we have several pairs around the gardens, but rarely do we see more than two at a time, nonchalantly strutting about.Pity you did not have a camera handy.
I did find this information,from this site that may explain,if they have been breeding nearby.
I think it was this time last year that my family of five Collared Doves gradually increased to a regular feeding flock of about eight or nine ... will have to search out the footage which I caught on my garden trailcam!
Edit: scroll down this page ... apparently it was ten!
community.rspb.org.uk/.../1215461
WendyBartter said:
HERE is Wendys direct link save you scrolling....Lovely Wendy
Thanks Everyone. Mr.Duckling, that must have been a wonderful sight. I'm afraid I cannot answer your question. However, I believe the reason we had as many as 12 Collared Doves a few years ago was because of our bird feeders. We had many bird feeders in our back garden, several of which held sunflower hearts and from which the Doves and Wood Pigeons could feed. That quickly lead to our two pairs of Collared Doves very quickly becoming a dozen birds. It was at that point when we began seeing Sparrow Hawks whizzing through our garden or perching and staring intently in every direction. That summer I watched a Sprawk mantling over a Collared Dove on three different occasions and Mr GB also surprised another one day when parking the car. I timed one Sprawk, and from the time I noticed the fluttering mantling until the Sprawk flew away with its prey, 45 minutes had passed. In that time the Sprawk had taken off many feathers and opened the crop of the Dove, removing all of our expensively-bought sunflower hearts from the Dove's crop before it could lift the Dove off the ground and fly away!