PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS ON MOURNING DOVE INDEX AND SURVEY 
METHODS IN WISCONSIN 
By Frederic H. Wagner 
University of Wisconsin and 
State of Wisconsin Conservation Department 
Introduction 
Three mourning dove inventory and survey methods were begun in 
Wisconsin in the spring, summer, and fall of 1951 to provide yardsticks 
of breeding population levels, yearly production, and geographical 
abundance. Data on locations and phenology of premigratory build-up 
and departure were also desired. As with other states in which the 
dove is not on the gamebird list, such indices had to be of a sort 
which could be operated at little or no expenditure of funds and man- 
power. This preliminary work was done under joint sponsorship of the 
University of Wisconsin Department of Wildlife Management and the 
Wildlife Management Institute and in cooperation with the Wisconsin 
Conservation Department. 
- Calling-Count Transects 
Three call count transects in south-central Wisconsin were run 
as prescribed by biologists of the Cooperative Dove Study. They were 
run weekly on routes already in use by the Wisconsin Conservation 
Department as quail, pheasant, and grouse transects with a view toward 
gathering data on more than one species at the same time, thereby pool- 
ing transportation and manpower. From the start, it was obvious that 
one man could attend adequately to only one species. This system, then, 
although requiring an extra man for doves, involved no extra transporta- 
tion costs during the pheasant- and quail-calling and grouse drumming 
se asonS. 
The transects were run from early April to early August. The 
purpose of the work done on these transects was to determine the 
seasonal calling curve, ascertain the best period on that curve in 
which to run more extensive counts, and to attempt to appraise the 
sensitivity of this index method. The results, as shown in Figure l, 
indicate a build-up to a peak in late April and early May correspond- 
ing to a period of migratory arrival and prenesting pair formation. 
This peak drops off with the onset of nesting to a rough plateau in 
latter May and in June. All transects are in rough agreement on these 
points. Routes 1 and 2 build up to a second peak in early July while © 
-Route 3 shows only a trace of a tendency in that direction. The roughly 
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