Nebraskaland

climates are among the first birds to head south to winter ranges in the southern U.S., Mexico and beyond, often in large flocks. In Nebraska, as is the case elsewhere, some doves are year-round residents, some nest here and move south for the winter, and some winter here that nested farther north. They are the most abundant and harvested game bird in the nation, with hunting seasons in all but Michigan and seven northeastern states. Seasons start Sept. 1 in all but South Texas, and in southern states stretch into January. During the 2018-19 season, an estimated 11,600 hunters harvested 189,100 doves in Nebraska. Nationwide, 694,000 hunters took home 10.3 million birds. From 2003 through 2019, 780,532 doves have been banded, primarily in the states in which they are hunted, with 48,095 returns. That includes 20,101 birds banded in Nebraska and 552 returns. The most interesting aspect of those returns, according to Jeff Lusk, data and biometry program manager with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, has been the age of some of the doves that have been banded and harvested. "I wouldn't expect a dove to live past 2 years old, but we have some really old doves being recovered out there," Lusk said. One dove banded in Jefferson County in August 2010, the same year it hatched, was harvested in Mexico more than seven years later in October 2017. Two other birds banded as adults, one in Johnson County in 2012 and another in Phelps County in 2013, were harvested in the same counties more than six years later and could have been even older. The oldest known dove was harvested in 1998 in Florida, 30 years after it was banded in Georgia. As one would expect, most birds banded in Nebraska are recovered in Nebraska (421) or in states or countries to our south. The next highest total came from Texas with 56, followed by Mexico with 38. The country is divided into three dove management units. Nebraska is in the central unit, which runs from the Rocky Mountain States east to the Mississippi River. Lusk said the units include populations that don't overlap, so movement east or west is rare. "They're not hard and fast boundaries, so sometimes you do get vagrants heading into one of the other management units," he said. Only six birds banded in Nebraska were recovered in a different unit. A dove banded in August 2012 in Platte County was harvested a month later in northeastern Alabama, 820 miles away. It was one of five recovered in the eastern unit. Jacob Durfl inger, a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission biologist, releases a mourning dove he trapped and banded in southeastern Nebraska in 2019. Nebraska Dove Banding 2003–2019 Doves banded: 20,101 Recovered 552 • Nebraska – 421 • Texas - 56 • Mexico - 38 • Kansas – 15 • Oklahoma – 7 • Louisiana – 3 • Alabama, Tennessee – 2 • Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Guatemala – 1 August-September 2020 • Nebraskaland 43

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