Increase in Collared Dove Population

Mollywolly

Has anyone else noticed that there seem to be larger numbers of collared doves around lately?

I first noticed them about five years ago when a pair started coming into the garden regularly - and still do! - but over the past few years these two have grown into the 18 I had in the garden this morning :eek:

Either my original two have been very busy or word has got round that the food in my garden is the best in the neighbourhood

Mothman

I wonder is there a rural/urban difference.

Have had a pair nesting in a shed in farmyard for many years, I think at least 15 years Don't think there has ever been 2 pairs.
In my garden, I've seen Collared Dove twice in 13 years

Mollywolly

I'm out country, with just a small garden (think semi-d size) but there must be a lot of them out here.

When I went out to the feeders this morning, there were eight waiting on the roof, seven on the telephone line and another three lurking somewhere else!

I really don't mind them coming into the garden, but at this rate I'll soon be spending more on bird seed than on food for me and himself!

kincsem

They are very common in South Dublin. They spend a lot of time on the roof waiting for feed. The pigeons are worse. They fly around my head, eat, then scarper.

F.R.

I have a pair that turn up at about 17:30 every day and clean up under the bird feeder. Never seen more then the two.

kylith

I saw about 4 the other day and I've never seen any before. Very pretty birds.

Half-cocked

Collard Doves only arrived in Ireland in the 1950's, so it would not be surprizing if their numbers are going up as they become more established. I'm sure Birdwatch have proper data on their numbers, but it does look like they are increasing in some areas. I seem to remember the odd pair showing up in gardens in the 80's, now it seems to be regular visits by larger groups. I get up to 8 at a time now.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Collared Doves are consistantly in the top 20 most widespread garden birds in Birdwatch Ireland surveys. They favour suburbs and rural areas, where there is cereal farming. At this time of year they flock more as they feed on recently harvested fields. If you use a cheaper seedmix for garden bird feeding it will contain the bigger grains that Colared Doves prefer(Wheat & Maize). They are in Ireland since 1959 and at one point looked as though they would reach pest proportions, but numbers have settled and are fairly static for the past 10 or 15 years.

Cork boy 55

Mollywolly wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed that there seem to be larger numbers of collared doves around lately?

I first noticed them about five years ago when a pair started coming into the garden regularly - and still do! - but over the past few years these two have grown into the 18 I had in the garden this morning :eek:

Either my original two have been very busy or word has got round that the food in my garden is the best in the neighbourhood

beautiful bird

Same as you, first noticed them maybe three or four years ago
I live in the city and theres nearly always a pair or two around in the garden.

I saw a bbc documentry about garden birds sometime back, they said the c. dove
is not native they spread from asia across europe after ww2

this is what wiki says

The Collared Dove is not migratory, but is strongly dispersive. Over the last century, it has been one of the great colonisers of the bird world. Its original range at the end of the 19th century was warm temperate and subtropical Asia from Turkey east to southern China and south through India to Sri Lanka. However, in the 20th century it expanded across Europe, appearing in the Balkans between 1900–1920, and then spreading rapidly northwest, reaching Germany in 1945, Great Britain by 1953 (breeding for the first time in 1956), Ireland in 1959, and the Faroe Islands in the early 1970s. Subsequent spread was 'sideways' from this fast northwest spread, reaching northeast to north of the Arctic Circle in Norway and east to the Ural Mountains in Russia, and southwest to the Canary Islands and northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt, by the end of the 20th century. In the east of its range, it has also spread northeast to most of central and northern China, and locally (probably introduced) in Japan.[2][3][4][6] It has also reached Iceland as a vagrant (41 records up to 2006), but has not colonised successfully there.[7]]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Collared_Dove

Mr. Presentable

It nearly has to have been artificially introduced though, doesn't it? Otherwise why would it not have spread here already?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

It nearly has to have been artificially introduced though, doesn't it? Otherwise why would it not have spread here already?

No, their range expanded and they gradually spread throughout Europe. They are a natural addition to our fauna and most certainly not introduced.