Collared doves

Hi everyone, I was just wondering what everyone thinks of collared doves? At the moment i have an "empty" new build garden but with farmlands and overgrown fields surrounding and we seem to get a lot of them in and around the garden.

I quite like them and their little coo cooing but would it be wrong to encourage them in as i want to create a wildlife garden, mainly for butterflies, bees, other beneficial insects and small mammals and maybe even amphibians? Are they considered pests? Or would they cause damage or put of my "wanted" creatures?

Thanks,
Smoo

 

I have them in everyday never cause any damage and they love rice I cant see them pestering other creaturs that you want to encourage I think blackbirds and magpies jays would cause more of a problem but you have to take the good with the bad in a garden especialy with wings not much choice of who arrives , not like the woodpigeon that eat my plants

Spruce

 

I agree, Collared Doves aren't going to scare off the smaller birds, i have them here and they socialise well with the small birds.
It's the Magpies i discourage, and the pidgeons - not that i'd hurt them though.

 

We have a regular pair visit our bird feedr and a delight they are.
Its the pigeons I have issues with. They can empty the feed in minutes..

 

Collared doves are no problem I've ever found, Smoo.
I've never found any damage they have done.
They are quite delightful to watch, very loving to each other.
And very easily tamed if that is what you want to do.
Just enjoy them.

 

Thanks everyone i shall continue to enjoy watching (and listening) to them. Could i put food out for them? What do they eat?

 

Collared Doves have adapted over the decades to eat whatever is offered, ie wild bird seed, bread and cake (if you want fat ones:D).

It's strange to think that before 1955 they had never been seen before in the UK.

 

I have collard doves nesting in my garden on my satellite dish - they are joy to see and i wake up every morning to their cooing, which is very relaxing. They sit on my bird table and look for me when it is feeding time.

 

Rice, small peanuts, wheat barley oats bread

Get a general wild bird mix



Spruce

 

I get lots of collared doves in my garden. Last year one individual became so tame that he would fly onto our garden table while we were eating, to see if there was anything worth pinching. Once he even did this while OH had the cat on his lap. The bird only freaked when the cat started licking his lips. (PS: we had the cat securely held. And he has no teeth.)

 

I love the sound that woodpigeons make! We're right in the town - not many trees to be seen - so it's great to hear a noise I associate with the countryside. There seems to be a strict pigeon apartheid in operation . In the back garden, we get woodpigeons and collared doves. In the road to the front of the house, we get town pigeons. The townies never seem to come into the back garden, even though I always leave food out. Perhaps, being urban sophisticates, they don't like to mix with country bumpkins.