Dove Management

The USFWS staff have been banding Mourning Doves at the Refuge and in town.  Todd (of course), myself, and even Jack got to capture and put bands on the birds.  Jack had a lot of fun releasing the doves, Lexi was not fond of it at all, and Sam was too busy finding cactus.  Todd did a lot of the actual banding and I volunteered recording the birds' demographics.  The Refuge banded a total of about 220 Mourning Doves.  All this "activity" made front page news of the Phillips County News(paper)...Todd's hands holding a banded dove must have been a newsworthy photo.  :)

A pair of doves that were captured in one of the traps.  These are actually Collared Doves and not Mourning Doves so they were not involved in the banding process. 

Sam and Jack piqueing their curiosity with the doves.

Miss Alexis doing her thing on the Swing 'n Slide.  She didn't care too much about the doves.