Migrational Homing in Mourning Doves
1961; Wiley; Volume: 25; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/3796992
ISSN1937-2817
Autores Tópico(s)Plant and animal studies
ResumoThat individuals of certain species of birds exhibit a marked tendency to return to the same geographic area year after year for breeding is well documented (von Haartman, 1949; Nice, 1937; Sowls, 1955). Only recently, however, has attention been given to determining the possible management implications of this phenomenon or to determining how large a segment of any given population exhibits this tendency. Hochbaum (1947; 1955) points that there is a danger of burning out local breeding populations of certain species of waterfowl by too much hunting pressure applied in the fall before the local breeding adults have had a chance to disperse. Sowls (1955) studied the degree of homing exhibited by five species of surface-feeding ducks and discovered that certain species exhibited a greater tendency to home than others. He also found that the females exhibited a greater homing tendency than the males and that adult females were more precise than juvenile females. This is in contrast to the usual situation found in song birds where the adult males tend to home more precisely than the adult females (von Haartman, 1949). Little has been published concerning the extent of homing exhibited by mourning doves (Zenaidura macroura). Stewart and Mackey (1953) recorded a pair which used the same nest in two successive years. Austin (1951) concluded that doves exhibited site tenacity to the breeding grounds but his data are not based on extensive samples of nest-trapped adults. Tomlinson, et al. (1960) reported on a study of bait-trapped doves on a Missouri breeding area and concluded that all of the surviving males, and over 90 percent of the surviving adult females returned to the same local area that they had nested in the previous year. They assumed that juveniles returned to their natal sites only rarely. These Missouri conclusions may be subject to some question in that they are not based on nest-trapped birds, but the authors presented evidence of a low radius of mobility in the summer for adult doves and assumed that their bait-trap locations actually did represent the local breeding area for the birds involved. The present study is an attempt to provide migrational homing data for mourning doves based on nest-trapped birds. I am indebted to the following for help with the trapping operations: M. A. Morse, S. D. Schemnitz, R. A. Chesness, P. E. Bremer, Bill Meglen, Lee Ward, Charles Kinsey, B. J. Hayward, A. B. Erickson, and J. B. Moyle. Part of the 1957 work was done while on the Minnesota Division of Game
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