I regularly see and hear two or three Eurasian Collared-Doves near my home
in central Tacoma. When they visit on my backyard deck or the fir tree over
it, they scare away the flock of Red Crossbills on my black oil sunflower
feeders, but the Crossbills soon return when the Doves depart.

Doug Schafer

On 6/3/2013 11:08 PM, B Boekelheide wrote:
> .... But what was most remarkable is the increase of Eurasian Collared-Doves, showing how ubiquitous this species has become around here. Only one other species, Am. Robin, occurred at more stops than Collared-Doves. For comparison, Robin occurred at 41 out of 50 stops, Collared-Doves at 26 stops, White-crowned Sparrow and Am. Goldfinch at 24 stops, crow at 22 stops, Spotted Towhee at 21 stops, Savannah Sparrow at 20 stops, and Song Sparrow at 18 stops. In abundance, Collared-Doves were outnumbered by only 7 species out of the 68 species recorded.
>
> What's really remarkable is how quickly this has happened. The very first Collared-Dove was recorded in Clallam County in 2004, but we didn't have continuous sightings here until 2006. I didn't record them on my Breeding Bird Survey until 2009. Here's how Collared-Dove numbers have increased since first recorded on this BBS:
> 2009: 4 doves at 2 stops
> 2010: 12 doves at 8 stops
> 2011: 8 doves at 5 stops
> 2012: 40 doves at 23 stops
> 2013: 45 doves at 26 stops
>
> Through this time period Mourning Dove numbers have remained relatively stable, about where they have been during the last 10 years, with 10 birds seen at 7 stops this year.
>
> It seems incredible that in 5 to 10 years Collared-Doves have expanded to become one of the most abundant, visible, and audible members of the avifauna in human-occupied areas of the north Olympic Peninsula. But despite their increase, I see no real evidence that they are impacting other species -- what about elsewhere?
>
> Bob Boekelheide
> Dungeness