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Old December 10th, 2009, 08:49 AM
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Frozen Morning-Doves??

Yesterday we picked up a second frozen Dove,we found one last week too:sad:
No blood,no injuries,just frozen..
I see a bunch at my heated bird-bath every night,as if they are having a meeting,other birds seem to find shelter at night,but not the Doves,anybody know why???

As usual, also have a pair of Robins who did not leave,they too go to the bird-bath..
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Old December 10th, 2009, 11:48 AM
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That is so sad Chico...I haven't heard of any viruses going around this year...sorry to hear you have had to experience this, I know how much you love your birdies :sad:
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Old December 10th, 2009, 01:34 PM
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I think Chris is right, I have never had a problem with my Morning Doves freezing and they winter in my back yard every year. The take refuge in my pines and junipers.

:sad:
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Old December 10th, 2009, 01:45 PM
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:sad:

It sounds like there's something else at play, chico. That's not normal behavior for mourning doves. And they're usually pretty cold-hardy. Likely there's a virus or something going around.

You might want to call your health dept and ask if they're interested in looking at the doves you found. Here they'll test dead birds for things like West Nile Virus and Bird Flu...maybe yours will want to do that, too.
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Old December 10th, 2009, 04:51 PM
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L4H,I too have plenty of cedars and other pine-bushes for them to take refuge.
Looking out right now,I can see about ten morning-doves in my tall tree and more of them under the feeder.
They seem to meet up as night falls

Chris,yes,I love "my"birds and hate to see any one of them dying,but it happens:sad:

Hazel,it could be some kind of virus,but probably not West Nile...one year all the House-Finches died off from an eye disease and I have yet to see one again:sad:the same happened to Sparrows.
They would fly around blindly and eventually died,but that was a long time ago.

We will keep an eye out for dead or sick birds,there is nothing much we can do about it:sad:
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Old December 10th, 2009, 04:53 PM
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I'm the same as the others, the morning doves are here daily to feed and sit in our cedars....never had a frozen one
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Old December 10th, 2009, 05:13 PM
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Actually years ago,Rockie proudly showed us,he'd caught a frozen Dove,it might have died for other reasons,but was frozen.
I think I still have a picture,hope nobody takes offense,the Dove was dead when Rocky found it.
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Old December 10th, 2009, 05:48 PM
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Funny that is it is the same species that were found, however it could be that they just sadly starved. Or they had a underline sickness or were already sick. Poor birds.

ACO22
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Old December 10th, 2009, 06:06 PM
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I've been thinking more about this and think that Hazel's idea is a good one, I know they were testing dead Crows and Blue-jays for West Nile, although I think that this year they stopped because there were just too many.

One thing I have noticed at my feeders is that for the past week, maybe more, I haven't seen one Blue-jay, normally they are flying in and out all day long. I looked on the ground along the tree line between our property and the neighbours, which is heavily treed and full of birds, but nothing....something is going on and I don't like it one iota...........I'm scratching my head on this one
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Old December 10th, 2009, 09:23 PM
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Chris, I've heard reports from Ontario and the east coast that blue jay numbers seem to be down suddenly. Corvids are prone to West Nile--and often birds with the virus hang on till the cold weather comes, then die. I'm beginning to wonder if that's what's going on with the jays. Our jays here, though, seem fine, and we had a very mosquitoey summer
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Old December 11th, 2009, 06:29 AM
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we still have lots of blue jays, they fight the squirrels for peanuts, its the crows that are down in numbers here, usually we have roughly 2-300 roosting in the sumac (spelling) trees, this year we're down to about 100
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Old December 11th, 2009, 08:19 AM
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I still have a lot of Mourning Doves around here chico. But I haven't seen many Jays either. My daughter has had tons around her feeder in London. Very strange. Sorry you are going through this.
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Old December 11th, 2009, 08:39 AM
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ACO,I don't thing the Doves starved to death,we fill the feeders every day and put whole corn on the ground.
We also have suet out every winter,there is always food around.
I feel they probably died in their sleep,their eyes are closed and if birds can look peaceful,they did.
Blue-Jays we have a lot of and "my"5 Crows still come around every morning,letting us know they are here for brekki and of course there are hundreds of Starlings.
I am waiting for the first Junko to arrive..

Unfortunately we do not have the Dove's body anymore,but if we find another,I will call.
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Old December 11th, 2009, 10:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hazelrunpack View Post
Chris, I've heard reports from Ontario and the east coast that blue jay numbers seem to be down suddenly. Corvids are prone to West Nile--and often birds with the virus hang on till the cold weather comes, then die. I'm beginning to wonder if that's what's going on with the jays. Our jays here, though, seem fine, and we had a very mosquitoey summer
That is what I was thinking maybe happened Hazel, but like I said I haven't found one body......Now I'm looking out the darn window all of the time trying to spot one :sad:...we had zillions of skeeters this year . Now I'm going to be on the lookout for Crows.

Chico, I have all of the Juncos, you're not getting any this year
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Old December 11th, 2009, 04:45 PM
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Chris,they'll be here soon,there just is no snow on the ground yet,when we get snow,they'll be leaving your place
OMG was it cold today,the wind was a killer,did I say I HATE winter
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Old December 11th, 2009, 05:51 PM
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Poor doves :sad: It might just be a fluke that two dies close together too, maybe it was natural causes and because you have so many, there were two in a row. And sad, but Rocky looks soooo proud of his find!
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Old December 11th, 2009, 07:30 PM
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Frozen Mourning

Our local paper has a weekly article written by an orinthologist(sp) on various bird species, sightings etc. and he researched bird bathing in winter through Cornell University who advised that is hazardous for birds as once they are wet they have a diffiult time raising their temperatures when out in the cold to enable them to dry signifcantly and therefore succumb to hypothermian. The article goes on about how birds eat snow to hydrate themselves when lakes, rivers are frozen. Wonder if thats what happened to the doves.
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Old December 11th, 2009, 08:20 PM
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If you've been feeding birds for years like I have chico2, then they keep coming back every year and they get old. I suspect your doves have just gotten to the end of their lifespan. It happened to me with a pair of old cardinals last year.
I have jays here, but they disappear for a few days and then are back for a while again. I suspect they just migrate to different food sources and return.

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