Hi there
Some more information about the collared dove
source: http://www.jacobijayne.co.uk/21-facts/
1. The Barbary dove is the domesticated form of the collared dove,
2. There are several species of African doves that look very similar to the collared dove, including the ring-necked, red-eyed and African mourning doves.
3. Bread forms a significant part of the diet of many suburban doves.
4. They like to feed in company: flocks of up to 10,000 have been recorded in Hungary.
5. Like most pigeons, collared doves are chiefly vegetarian, finding most of their food from the ground or on bird tables.
6. This is one of the nosiest of garden birds, its monotonous cooing driving many people to distraction, while others enjoy hearing it.
7. Unlike the closely related wood pigeon, the collared dove isn’t regarded as an agricultural pest, though it can be a nuisance in the garden.
8. Such prolific breeding is helped by the eggs hatching after 14 days, and the young fledging just 17 days later.
9. The ability to produce multiple broods throughout the year greatly helped the population explosion.
10. A pair may produce as many as nine clutches of two eggs in a year, while some have been known to rear five broods in 12 months.
11. Territorial battles between rival males are not unusual and are often both fierce and long.
12. Nesting throughout the year is quite normal; though breeding activity declines in mid winter.
13. Part of the bird’s success is attributable to its preference for living in close proximity to man, preferring farmyards and gardens to the open countryside.
14. The North American colonisation has been helped by the release of birds in the Bahamas.
15. No one knows for certain what triggered the original expansion of range and increase in population.
16. Today collared doves are fast colonising North America and North Africa.
17. This bird is the seventh most frequently seen species in British gardens and the population has reached 230,000 pairs.
18. Within 20 years they had colonised every county in the British Isles, and had even reached Shetland and the Outer Hebrides.
19. There was great excitement among birdwatchers when these doves nested in the UK (in North Norfolk) for the first time in 1956: the nest was heavily guarded and protected from disturbance.
20. The collared dove is an eastern European species that was unknown in Britain 60 years ago.
21.The spread of this dove across Europe is well documented. They first bred in Hungary in 1932, Austria in 1938, Germany in 1943 and the Netherlands in 1947.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Thanks Blackbird. Very interesting.
I am lucky I suppose that I only have about 3 pairs on a regular basis so they don't become a nuisance. I was watching a pair this morning on the shed roof. They were huddled together and preening - not themselves, but each other! They seemed so in love and it was wonderful to see them.