[texbirds-freelists] [texbirds] "no hope" - where are Inca Doves?

Inca Dove has all but disappeared from my area of El Paso - residential 
neighborhoods in the Rio Grande floodplain on the west side of town - where 
formerly common. I have yet to see one in my yard in 2012. It has always been 
one of my first birds of the year before this year. I jog extensively in 
surrounding neighborhoods and the irrigation ditches I run on which always held 
Inca Doves now have none. I was wondering if others have seen a precipitous 
decline in their area? It may be tempting to blame E. C-Dove but I think 
something else is at work. I say this because E C-Dove numbers have been steady 
here for at least seven years now, long preceding the drop in Inca numbers. 
Drought and record cold snaps in Feb. a
TEXBIRDS help file and Texas birding links at: 
http://moonmountaingroup.com/texbirds
nd Dec 2011 may also be factors.   Jim 
Paton, El Paso

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