Mourning Dove Abundance and Distribution across New York State
Opponents of mourning dove hunting insist that there are not many mourning doves distributed throughout NY State. To provide insight into the abundance and distribution of mourning doves across New York we extracted data from three consecutive years of the Christmas Bird Count and compiled it into reports enhanced by spreadsheets and interactive maps.
Christmas Bird Counts have been conducted for over a century. A 7 ½ mile radius around a specific point creates a count circle. This 15 mile diameter circle is divided into territories of a size that a team of observers can cover in a day. Every bird is counted within each territory at a date in late December or early January each year. It should be noted that peak mourning dove populations occur in the fall and populations are reduced by mortality by late December. The migratory behavior of mourning doves also might manifest in a difference between autumn populations and winter populations.
Read Our Reports:
2012
2013
2014
Christmas Bird Counts have been conducted for over a century. A 7 ½ mile radius around a specific point creates a count circle. This 15 mile diameter circle is divided into territories of a size that a team of observers can cover in a day. Every bird is counted within each territory at a date in late December or early January each year. It should be noted that peak mourning dove populations occur in the fall and populations are reduced by mortality by late December. The migratory behavior of mourning doves also might manifest in a difference between autumn populations and winter populations.
Read Our Reports:
2012
2013
2014