Mourning Dove Nesting: Seasonal Patterns and Effects of September Hunting,

A nationwide State-Federal cooperative study was initiated in 1978 to examine effects of September hunting on nesting mourning doves Zenaida macroura. This study was designed to 1 determine the proportion of the annual total of dove nesting activity and production that occurs in September and October, and 2 determine if survival rates of mourning dove eggs and nestlings are lower in zones where early September dove hunting is permitted than in zones where it is prohibited. During 1979 and 1980, 6,950 active nests were monitored to obtain data on nesting patterns. Nest initiation was estimated using two measurements, backdating from hatch dates and counting numbers of nests found for the first time. The nationwide percentage of the annual total of nests that were initiated in September and October was 1.0 based on backdating from hatch dates and 2.7 based on nests found for the first time. Nesting activity was measured by numbers of eggs and nestlings present in weekly counts. Nationally, 4.5 of the annual nesting activity occurred in September and October. The activity of 80 of the observed nests was within the period of 22 April to 4 September. The measure of production used in this study was numbers of young fledged. Nationally, 10.3 of all observed fledging occurred in September and October. Because a decline in nests found in the latter half of the nesting season preceded the 1 September start of hunting, we concluded that the reduction in nesting activity at the end of the season is a natural phenomenon and is not caused by hunting disturbance. In a separate part of this study, we estimated survival rates in adjacent hunted and nonhunted zones from data on 668 nests.