Nebraskaland

34 Nebraskaland • August-September 2021 y first encounter with Eurasian collared-doves occurred 20 years ago when I spent some time down in Houston with my parents. We frequently noticed these "big doves," as we called them, flying around our hotel's neighborhood, which was right across the street from the Astrodome. They were much larger than the doves we hunted back home and appeared to be between a mourning dove and a pigeon in size. Shortly thereafter, the big doves started showing up in Nebraska. According to Birds of Nebraska – Online, Eurasian collared- doves have expanded their range and increased their numbers dramatically in Nebraska since 2000. By 2001, they were residing in many of the larger Panhandle towns. However, a few were in the state before that. The first collared-dove recorded in Nebraska was at a feeder in Shelton on Nov. 29, 1997, while the first breeding pair was recorded in Kearney on April 22, 1998. Prolific breeders, by fall as many as nine birds were in the Kearney neighborhood. Since then, numbers have steadily increased, most notably in the west. Christmas bird counts in the winter of 2016-17 reflected a record high of 1,359 Eurasian collared-doves in Scottsbluff, 166 in North Platte, 50 at Harlan County Reservoir, and 33 in Omaha, which was also a new high. Many may wonder where these doves came from. Dr. Jeffrey Lusk, former Upland Game Program Manager with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said they are thought to have originated in India before spreading into Turkey and southeastern Europe near the Balkans. The birds were then introduced to the island of New Providences in the Bahamas in the 1970s, and by the mid-1980s, they had made landfall in Florida. "By the early 2000s, Eurasian collared-doves had colonized much of the southeastern U.S., including eastern coastal Texas," Lusk said. That timeframe correlates to when I saw them in Houston. The Eurasian collared-doves rapidly expanded northwest and throughout most of the country, except the northeast and upper Great Lakes states, Lusk said, and even into northwestern Canada and down into Mexico and Central America. "In its native range, studies indicated collared-doves can be long-distance dispersers, which is thought to account for their rapid colonization of the continent," Lusk said. "They are not migratory, so once they colonize an area, they are year-round residents." Habits and Habitats That non-migratory nature differentiates Eurasian collared-doves greatly from their mourning dove cousins, which are quick to depart the Great Plains at the slightest hint of colder weather. Experienced mourning dove hunters know they must hit the early season hard, especially the first two weeks of September, because birds likely will be gone after just a few chilly nights. The two species also tend to prefer different habitats. At least one study showed collared-doves do not directly compete or exclude mourning doves from feeding areas, as the two species typically choose different-sized food items. Lusk also has noticed collared-doves do not use the same breadth of habitat types as do mourning doves. "Collared-doves seem to prefer living in proximity to people, in towns, and around grain bins on farms," he said. Indeed, that's where I shot my two Eurasian collared- doves last year: the first one near an active farm site where I had permission to hunt, and the second near an abandoned barnyard also on land I could hunt. That said, collared-doves can be found in many of the same wild places as mourning doves, just like mourning doves can be frequently found A mourning dove (pictured) weighs, on average, 20 percent less than the Eurasian collared-dove. JUSTIN HAAG, NEBRASKALAND M The Other Ones Eurasian Collared-doves in Nebraska By Jarrod Spilger

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