Download or read book Nesting and Foraging Ecology of Band-tailed Pigeons in Western Oregon written by Jerome Patrick Leonard and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pacific Coast band-tailed pigeons (Columba fasciata) have declined markedly during the past several decades. Despite implementation of increasingly restrictive hunting regulations, populations have shown minimal signs of recovery. I radio-marked 127 adult band-tailed pigeons in the central Oregon Coast Range in April-May of 1993-95 to document nesting chronology and productivity, and characterize nesting and feeding habitats. One-hundred and thirty-seven nests initiated by 65 different birds were monitored. Multiple brooding was predominant; 45 birds initiated 2-3 nests each with 7 birds producing 3 successful nests each in one nesting season. All nests had a clutch size of 1. The reproductive period started in late-April and went through mid- to late-October. Nesting attempts peaked mid- to late-June, and 21% of all young fledged after September 15. Nest re-use was rare, but 78% of the consecutive nests I observed by individual birds eliminated nesting intervals by overlapping nesting cycles. Nesting overlap averaged 7 days. Nest survival probabilities were consistent between years with a pooled estimate of 0.689 (95% C.I = 0.613-0.775). Band-tails nested in a variety of tree and shrub species, with 70% of the nests observed in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menzesii). Only 17% of all nests were in deciduous trees or shrubs. Nest height was highly variable and averaged 10.3 m. They also used a variety of stand conditions (open and closed) and seral/community types (sapling-pole to old-growth in deciduous and conifer communities). However, the majority of nests (77%) were in stands classified as conifer community with 55% in the closed-canopy, sapling-pole seral condition. Feed areas were diverse in their physical and vegetative characteristics and were located in both riparian and upland zones. The principal food component within most of these sites was either Pacific red elder (Sambucas racemosa) or cascara buckthorn (Rhamnus purshianus). Band-tailed pigeons were highly mobile throughout their nesting season. They traveled an average of 5.02 km to feed areas and had a mean home range size of 11,121 ha. Due to their mobility, and diverse habitat use, band-tailed pigeons would be an important species for consideration in large watershed management designs.