Is my Collared Dove depressed?

[feedergirl]

Dear Wildlife Friends,

I have a collared dove looking very depressed; he/she lays on the ground sleeping ever since I believe his/her partner was killed. I saw a bunch of feathers in the front garden and ever since just a single dove roosts on the ground or in a low shrub. Before this I used to get quite annoyed because I'd have the pair flapping around and eating all the seed supposedly for the other little birds.

The dove is so docile I can go up and talk to him and he doesn't move - has been like it for over a week now. I'm worried he'll get killed too - almost like he's on a suicide mission with the cats & foxes around. Do doves mate for life? Has the dove lost his/her partner and is depressed?

Regards,

Feedergirl

[Gill Catton]

hmmm generally if a wild animal gets really close its a rather bad sign.
It sounds like a sick bird to me, you could try tracking down your local wildlife rescue and seeing if they come and get it. I personally do think birds recognise the death of a partner - but I don't think it takes longfor the survival instinct to kick in and they get on with life. It may well have been that both birds were sick and the first caught and killed due to being sick and a bit slow in the first place?

[witham]

as has been said it's maybe ill, we have collared doves that regularly come into the garden, I had pictures of a white one on here weeks ago which is still around, over time I have found a few rings of feathers when the Sparrow Hawk has struck but the remaining ones don't go into decline like yours seems to have done, has anyone in the area been putting rat/mouse poison or similar down

[The Black Rabbit]

In answer to your question - many pigeons and doves DO mate for life, (as long as they're both alive of course), but no dove or pigeon would "get depressed" (as humans might).
TBR

[jhewitt15]

collared doves pair for life.

[feedergirl]

Originally Posted by witham

as has been said it's maybe ill, we have collared doves that regularly come into the garden, I had pictures of a white one on here weeks ago which is still around, over time I have found a few rings of feathers when the Sparrow Hawk has struck but the remaining ones don't go into decline like yours seems to have done, has anyone in the area been putting rat/mouse poison or similar down

Oh dear yes that might be it! Our neighbour spotted a rat in next doors garden and put poison down in three gardens and insisted I do the same under my shed. Then he complained I was attracting doves and pigeons to our gardens with a tray that caught falling seeds from my main feeder so I removed it. The doves probably ate the poison when they could not longer perch on the tray to get their usual food source. Crickey poor dove...I will see if I can sweep up my poison and I'm tempted to put the tray back on the feeder so they don't go else where looking for food.

As said in previous message - he's adventured out of the front garden so I'm hoping he might be making a recovery.

I've found further feathers so something is on the prowl but not sure I've seen a sparrow hawk...there's a couple of neighbourhood cats and family of foxes nearby. Although doing better than last year when I lost a whole nest of baby robins which made me so sad. Every morning I'd have peak and them one morning all gone bar a few little fluffy feathers.

This year although I didn't spot the nest I have baby robins (they are beginning to get red breasts now), a family of goldfinches (first time I've had them - the nyger seeds worked as advised on here!) and lots of different tit families.

Ah my goldfinches are enjoying some late lunch now!

Many thanks for everyone's response.

Regards,

Feedergirl

[Geoff F]

Is it feeding? If it only ate a small amount of poison it may eventually recover, if it doesn't get killed by something else in the meantime.

It's probably too late to say this now; but when using rat poison, only put it into a proper rat box or length of pipe where rats can only get at it by crawling inside and all other creatures are excluded..

[RobinP]

Agree with that, you can buy special boxes from DIY stores that contain rat poison and only rodents can get into them. May cost a little more but hey...

[forfi]

The human ,and for many animals,antidote to rat poison if it is the blue coloured one, is vitamin K .See if you can get some down your birdie and it may do the trick.

[feedergirl]

Originally Posted by Geoff F

Is it feeding? If it only ate a small amount of poison it may eventually recover, if it doesn't get killed by something else in the meantime.

It's probably too late to say this now; but when using rat poison, only put it into a proper rat box or length of pipe where rats can only get at it by crawling inside and all other creatures are excluded..

Geoff,

Good idea - I will look out for the boxes in the DIY store and perhaps give one to my neighbour! I did a lot of gardening yesterday and found quite a lot of feathers so I suspect we've had quite a lot of dosy doves and pigeons.

I'm very pleased to say my singleton dove has perked up enormously - I gave him some high-energy food and now he's been flapping around with another couple so you could be right in that he's recovered...not sure if the food has vitamins in in but may have helped to the trick.

Once again thanks for everyone's input.

Regards,

Feedergirl