This week at the Stiles Farm, we began dove trapping and banding at the locations that we prepared last week. I started the week off by building dove traps using 1-by-2-inch welded wire and hog rings. Then, I spent some time going through the photos on the game cameras to see what time of day that the doves are most active at our feed stations. After concluding that the doves are most active at the feed stations during the early morning and evening, we set out to begin trapping.
On our second night of trapping, we caught this young mourning dove. We were able to determine this bird to be a young-of-the-year by the presence buffy-tipped covert feathers. We also recorded which primary feather had most recently molted to determine a more precise age since hatching. After recording all of this data, and equipping each dove we catch with a leg band, we will submit this data to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to use in conjunction with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to help in mourning dove management nationwide.
