Eurasian Collared Doves- interesting information from Gary Bletsch. About
that large flock of doves in Conway. A good project is to monitor that area
for the presence of large accipiters. Nelson Briefer- Anacortes.
On Sat, Jan 29, 2022 at 1:58 PM Gary Bletsch <
garybletsch at protonmail.com>
wrote:
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Dear Tweeters,
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It has been interesting reading the thread about Eurasian Collared Doves
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the last few days. Here is my two-cents' worth, regarding only observations
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of this species in Skagit County.
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We are now about 30 days into the new year of 2022. So far, I have seen
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Eurasian Collared Doves on 42 occasions during that stretch, at 12
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different sites in Skagit. The sites include my yard near Lyman, a yard in
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the town of Lyman itself, two sites on :Fir Island, one on Samish Island,
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two sites on the Samish Flats, plus several other scattered sites, all of
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which are in the western part of Skagit County. Numbers of individuals have
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apparently decreased a bit since the weather events of November and
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December, when we had a big flood, followed by a long cold snap. Many of my
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41 observations were of just one or two birds. Even so, during this month
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of January, I have observed flocks that contained the following numbers of
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birds: 38, 20, 13, 11, 7, 6, and 6. The big flock of 38 individuals was at
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the grain silo in Conway.
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Digging deeper, I checked my records for the first 29 days of each of the
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last few years. This is the third January of my retirement, so my effort
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has been somewhat greater these last three years. The numbers of
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observations over these three years have remained consistent.
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2022, 41 observations;
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2021, 36;
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2020, 37;
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2019, 30;
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2018, 17;
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2017, 34;
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2016, 15;
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2015, 19;
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2014, 7;
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2013, 8;
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2012, 9;
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2011, 3;
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2010, 2;
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2009, 1;
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2008, 3.
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In Skagit County, Eurasian Collared Doves began attracting notice in
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September of 2017, starting with a flock that showed up on the Calhoun
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Road, west of Mount Vernon. A birder in that neighborhood later told me
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that the little flock of doves there had been present for months, perhaps
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as much as a year, before word had gotten got out. I saw my first ones on
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9-15-07, and it seems to me that the species has been increasing ever
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since, albeit with some "corrections," as followers of the stock market
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like to say.
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As best I can recall, the only time I have seen a Eurasian Collared Dove
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being eaten by a predator in Skagit was on April 11, 2015; a Merlin was
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eating a Eurasian Collared Dove on the front lawn of a house by the river
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in the town of Lyman.
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Yours truly,
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Gary Bletsch
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