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I've been driving through Mount Thom on a weekly basis for the past couple of months, and always see a Mourning Dove or two on the wires near houses. This morning as I rounded a curve in the road I noticed more than a few strung out on the wires near one particular home. Slowed down and made an estimate of 75+ birds. This is a huge increase from even last week, when there were maybe a dozen. It looks like someone is feeding them a lot of grain, and probably will continue to do so over the course of the winter. I can't believe this many doves would just happen upon the place, which is fairly isolated in the middle of a forested area. I suspect most of these birds are young produced by doves that wintered there last year. At 2-3 broods of 2-3 young per season, 10 pairs could likely account for all the birds present. This many doves will doubtless attract Sharpies and Goshawks all winter, and by spring numbers will likely be trimmed back down to 10-20.
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