72 



Birds — Our Livini; Resfurces 



Breeding and 

 wintering range 



Mam wintering range 



Nontiern limit of wintering range 



Fig. 1. Breeding and wintering 

 ranges of mourning doves and 

 mourning dove management units 

 in the United States. 



Status and Trends 



The Eastern Management Unit includes 27 

 states— 30% of the U.S. land area. The 1993 

 population indices were 18.3 doves heard and 

 14.9 doves seen per route (Dolton 1993b; Fig. 

 2). Both estimates are above the long-term trend 

 estimates. Between 1966 and 1993. the popula- 

 tion has been relatively stable. Dove harvest in 

 the EMU was relatively constant from 1966 to 

 1987. with between 27.5 million and 28.5 mil- 

 lion birds taken. The latest estimate, a 1989 sur- 

 vey, indicated that the harvest had dropped to 

 about 26.4 million birds shot by an estimated 

 1.3 million hunters (Sadler 1993). 



The Central Management Unit consists of 14 

 states containing 46% of the U.S. land area. Of 

 the three units, the CMU has the highest mourn- 

 ing dove population index. The 1993 index for 

 the unit of 23.9 doves heard per route is slight- 

 ly below the long-term trend estimate (Dolton 

 1993b; Fig. 2). For doves seen, the estimate of 

 26.8 is also below what was expected. Even 

 though there appears to be an increase in doves 

 seen and a slight decrease in doves heard 

 between 1966 and 1993, in statistical terms 

 there is no significant trend indicated for either 

 count. Although hunting pressure and harvest 

 varied widely among states, dove harvest in the 

 CMU generally increased between 1966 and 

 1987 to an annual average of about 13.5 million 



birds. In 1989 almost 11 million doves were 

 taken by about 747,000 hunters (Sadler 1993). 



The Western Management Unit comprises 

 seven states and represents 24% of the land area 

 in the United States. The 1993 population 

 indices of 9.3 doves heard and 8.5 doves seen 

 per route are slightly above their long-term 

 trend estimates (Dolton 1993b; Fig. 2). 

 Significant downward trends in numbers of 

 doves heard and seen for the unit occuned 

 between 1966 and 1993. From 1987 to 1993, 

 however, a significant positive trend occuned in 

 the unit although the indices were still below 

 those of the 1960's. After a decline in the dove 

 breeding population, dove harvest in the WMU 

 declined significantly. In the early I970's, about 

 7.3 million doves were taken by an estimated 

 450.000 hunters. By 1989, the harvest had 

 dropped to about 4 million birds shot by about 

 285,000 hunters (Sadler 1993). 



In summary, mourning dove populations in 

 the EMU and CMU are relatively stable. 

 Although the population of doves in the WMU 

 declined from a high in the mid-l960"s. it 

 appears that it stabilized during the past 7-10 

 years. U.S. dove harvest appears to be decreas- 

 ing. The mourning dove remains an extremely 

 important game bird, however, especially since 

 more doves are harvested than all other migra- 

 tory game birds combined. A 1991 survey indi- 

 cated that the mourning dove provided about 

 9.5 million days of hunting recreation for 1.9 

 million people (USFWS and U.S. Bureau of 

 Census 1993). 



Year-to-year population changes are normal 

 and expected. Although populations are rela- 

 tively stable in the Eastern and Central 

 Management units, declining long-term trends 

 in the past two decades are cause for concern in 

 the Western Unit and in local areas elsewhere. A 

 combination of factors may have been detri- 

 mental to dove populations in some areas: habi- 

 tat and agricultural changes including loss of 

 nesting habitat through reclamation and indus- 

 trial and urban development, changes in agri- 

 cultural practices that may have reduced food 

 sources, and possibly overharvest of doves in 

 local areas. In California, for example, many 

 live oak trees have been cut for wood products 

 resulting in a loss of nesting habitat. 

 Reclamation projects or lowered water tables 

 eliminated thousands of acres of mesquite nest- 

 ing habitat in Arizona. Since many doves from 

 the WMU winter in Mexico during a 5- to 6- 

 month period each year, agricultural changes 

 there may negatively affect doves. 



In the CMU, agricultural changes were eval- 

 uated and compared with dove population 

 trends in the eastern group of states (R.R. 

 George, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 

 unpublished data); mounting dove population 



