Hello all,
I just read the BOGR account of Band-tailed Pigeons written by Sanders and
Jarvis, interesting stuff.
As for the distance of mineral sites and how it would affect breeding
sites it happens that those mineral sites need only be visited once a week
or so. The parents take turns on a regular daily basis incubating and
rearing/feeding so it now appears to me it would be unremarkable for the
adults to visit a place like Koll wetland in Beaverton or Lady Island
(thanks for that Wilson, fun stuff and amazing numbers you had there) in
the Columbia.
For those interested in a short piece on how pigeon crop milk is produced
you may want to read this:
http://www.sciencealert.com/mothers-milk-best-for-growing-babies-and-that-includes-baby-pigeons
Other Tabor happenings: Great horned owls successfully bred again in the
park this year. Since about 5 or 6 years ago, they have done so (but
maybe not all years in the period were successful). I am posting this Just
So folks interested in distribution and breeding successes in all types of
environments know it has occurred AND I am deliberately withholding info on
where the young is so please don't inquire---given the massive traffic
Tabor gets and the significant potential (given Portland's population) for
yahoos disturbing the bird(s). They are a common species elsewhere so its
no big thing if the Tabor birds aren't ticked.
A number of us Tabor habitues have commented to one another on a
Black-throated Gray who is on territory (for the last 2 weeks) on the east
side, no one seems to remember this having happened in the park before.
good birding,
Tom
