[SBB] Re: [MBB] Bandtailed pigeons

[[[email protected]] (Birdermom)]

Dear Diane:
I read a good article last year (can't remember mag. name) about Band-Tailed Pidgeons.  Many of them migrate south to Mexico every year where they are considered a delicacy and are widely hunted.  The other reason cited for their decline is the reduced quantity of Acorns available due to the rising numbers of Acorn Woodpeckers who have few predators left and who eat many of the nuts formerly eaten by Band-Taileds.  I would also assume that decline in habitat is another reason for their decline.  Since we bought our Gilroy property surrounded by 100 year old olive trees, I've noticed that hundreds of Band-Taileds flood the trees when the 40+ olive trees ripen (around early summer) and are still there now.  They hang from the smallest branchlets while maddly flapping their wings and plucking and swallowing as many as 8 olives in a row (which begs the question "How many olives can a Band-tailed Pidgeon eat and still be able to remain airborne?).  To me, this indicates that they!
  are more adaptable than the Carrier Pidgeon may have been.  Also, isn't the current theory that the Carrier Pidgeon needed several thousand in a flock to maintain critical mass?  Band-taileds seem to hang out in flocks of about 30-40 when not in mass feeding flocks of hundreds (such as in Castle Rock park in late spring when the rains make the acorns swell into large, plump edibles).  The fact that they are so wary endears me to them since they seem to be one of the few untamable birds - even on my feeders (where they prefer striped sunflower seeds).  The sound of their wings can be a roar when dozens or hundreds take to flight at the same time (a trademark of this bird).  And their brilliant orange beak and green irridescent neck feathers makes them a beautiful bird to behold up-close, like through the slit in my shutters.  I encourage you to welcome these wild, wonderful birds to your yard with tasty plants that will feed them (such as oaks and perhaps even an olive)!  T!
 ake care,
Jean Myers
Gilroy

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A digression from list standards, but this seemed like a rare opportunity.  So, begging everyone's indulgence...

A call to the Capitola Book Cafe at 9:20 a.m. today, Wed., confirms that author Maria Mudd Ruth will be appearing tonight as scheduled to promote her book, Rare Bird.  Its about the MARBELED MURRELET, but I've no idea if or how much our local area might factor into her story.  Check it out here if you're interested:  
August 2005 Author Events     http://www.capitolabookcafe.com/events/aug05.html#ruth


The July issue of the Audubon Society of Portland's monthly newsletter had an article about BANDTAILED PIGEONS.  In it, the writer noted the high market value on the birds in the Portland area for many decades, and stated the species was probably as endangered as the PASSENGER PIGEON at one time and narrowly missed the same fate.  Sibley's other Big Book doesn't really address this except in passing, so I'm wondering if anyone knows why the Bandtailed survived when the Passenger did not.  Was it just by virtue of wider distribution in the west, where there might have been fewer hunters over a larger area of habitat?  I realized today I really don't know any more about Bandtails than I do about Murrelets.  Around our house the big pigeons are frequent, dominant at all feeders, and plentiful.  They're also nearly as flexible at feeding themselves as chickadees, able to contort themselves to reach almost any feeder and hang upside-down from twigs that would seem far too small t!
 o bear their weight.  And they're plenty wary, and capable of finding even the smallest trickle of water at dawn and dusk.  Its been the same whenever we've owned rural or semi-rural property in OR and WA, too. 

Both the article and Sibley note the species has declined in the last thirty years, but neither offers any thoughts as to what might be the cause or causes.

Cheers,

Diane Goodboe
Ben Lomond
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