Any juveniles ?

[Cranfield]

I shot last week and commented in my report that I only killed adult birds, not one juvenile.

 

Is it a bit early ?

Anyone else seeing any ?

Even though Spring time was a bit wet, do you think it will be a good breeding year ?

[BigDave15]

I havent seen any little ones

But the outer day there were a ton of city birds roosting in the woods ( There the sort of pigeons you see in town ) they were pretty small so maybe they were young.

[Deako]

Dave, its very rare for ferals to roost en masse in woods........be careful they're not stock doves. :0

[lazza]

Alot of the pigeons around here are this years young, their full size now! And the pigeons are now rearing for the second time this year, and we wonder why there are so many around!

[BigDave15]

Thanks for that Deako I will leave them alone.

    For Now!  :evil:

[sutty]

Hi Cranfield

 Lazza is right most are now in full plumage,

I was getting young birds around early to mid may, around the time crows branch

Most will be on their second brood and some of them will soon be heading for the "departure lounge"

                      good hunting

                      regards sutty

[Cranfield]

I know they mature quick, but don,t you think that the neck rings take that bit longer to become pronounced ?

 

Perhaps I shot some "early birds" without realising it.

 

Any comments on the numbers being seen ?

Is it a good breeding year ?

[Malc]

I shot about 25 yesterday, only 1 young 'un and its neck marking had just started to show.

[Malc]

I'm not sure if it was a juvenile, but I shot a very thin woodpigeon at the weekend. It had neck bars but no meat on it. Otherwise it was in prime condition.

[columbus]

I shot a field of cut winter barley aprox 2 weeks ago i had 38 birds, and about 80% were juvinile birds since then each time i have been out a higher proportion of juvinile birds have been a feature of the bag than in previous years. I dont know if this is a local feature or not.

[Cranfield]

Late August, is when I expect to see lots of this years broods, making up the bags.

There were quite a few around earlier than usual, this year.

 

It seems to have been a good breeding year for pigeons.

[sutty]

Cranfield

There are quite a few in this area too,been a good year.

One thing i have noticed is that there seems to be a lot of young ferrals among the flocks ,Has anyone else noticed this?

                 regards sutty (by gum)

[Cranfield]

I try not to take any notice of ferals or odd coloured pigeons.

 

Where I shoot seems to be on a major racing pigeon flightline. Quite a few local people own tame pigeons,(these are dark coloured) that get let out for a fly around in the afternoons.

 

The racers aren,t a problem, they usually fly fast in formation .The tame ones behave like ferals, they will come in to the field in a group, but then split up.

They also fly around with the woodies.

 

I don,t want to think about the aggro that would be caused, if I shot one in mistake for a feral.