One of our favorite backyard birds is the dove- elegant, stately, and mild mannered dove. We enjoy the soft cooing sounds in the early mornings. We especially enjoyed seeing them nest and raise their young in our backyard. So naturally, we fell headlong into their takeover plans. We never saw it coming.
The cardinals and jays were regulars at our platform feeders. The occasional migrating birds would join in and all seemed well. They got along fine and these mild mannered doves sat mannerly on the fence softly cooing. Everyone shared and made room at the feeders. How nice it was.
The doves began to nest. They began to nest in every nook and cranny of our yard - front and back. The magnolias, the oak trees, the pines - all were full of nesting pairs. They even nested over the cars! Soon we had baby doves scurrying across the lawn. It was fun seeing these young babies learn to fly. They were so cute. Just drawing us in - weren't they?
It wasn't long until we noticed fewer cardinals. Even the jays seemed to be staying away. The chickadees, wrens, and finches wer
e still with us, using their tube feeders. So life was grand. Now I wonder, do doves migrate? This is the deep south, do they just raise their broods and stay year round in our backyards? It seemed our backyard birding area was now run over by these mild manned birds. We watched as they chased other birds from the platform feeders. Maybe not intentionally malicious, just by shear numbers. The doves, sometimes hundreds, would line our wood fence around the backyard at feeding time and swoop in like a ravenous herd.
One day we discovered even the tube feeders were no longer safe! Doves were landing on those tiny perches and leaning around to the next port to feed. The chickadees, wrens, and finches were now being run from their feeders! Something had to be done.
We slowly began taking back our backyard birding area. Our Duncraft and Droll Yankee feeders are designed to keep unwanted birds and squirrels away from your bird feed. Strategically placing platform selective feeders, some designed for specific birds soon brought a pair of cardinals back. We did the same with the tube feeders. There are models which will only support the smaller birds or have surrounding cages only the smaller birds can get through. Soon the doves accepted the changes and began feeding in their own area.
We still enjoy our doves, but now we also have our songbirds back and our backyard birding area is again as it should be. Do a little research and planning and you can avoid the invasion of these seemingly mild mannered birds. It is a clever disguise they use and you'll never see them coming.
