By Mike Leggett

AUSTIN -- Doves are travelers.

We know that because scientists have been using tiny ankle bands to track thousands of them for years.

According the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, hunters have turned in bands from mourning doves that came from 21 different states, including Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Similarly, whitewings with Texas bands have shown up in four different countries and even on an offshore oil rig.

Texas Parks and Wildlife and Texas A&M University have been putting bands on thousands of whitewings and mourning doves since 2003. And during that time, they have been gathering information, not only about where they go, but also how long they live and how they die.

"The most important things we're learning is age, survival and harvest rates," says Corey Mason, head of the dove program at Texas Parks and Wildlife. "We're able to learn juvenile and adult percentages and use those in building population estimates. Eventually, that will help us (create) a regulatory package (for hunters)."

The state plans to band thousands of whitewing and mourning doves again this summer.

The goal is to increase the population of banded birds so biologists can gather more information on age, travel and survival in future years.

Wildlife management experts know Texas has fall dove populations that exceed 40 million birds each year and the average annual dove harvest is about 6 million birds. That's about 30 percent of all doves taken in the U.S. each year.

From the banding program, researchers know that most Texas doves don't live very long, typically less than two years. The oldest mourning dove found in Texas has been 9 years old. Nationwide, the oldest mourning dove (banded in Georgia) lived 31 years. Same with whitewings. The oldest in Texas has been 17. An Arizona bird was 21 years of age.

Researchers want to know more, but they need help. Texas has about 300,000 dove hunters each year and, as a group, they do a poor job of reporting birds with bands. How poor? Texas trails every other state in the band recovery rate.

That means hunters are bagging doves without paying attention to, or they are ignoring, leg bands. The bands are so tiny, they are easy to miss.

So here's what we need to do. If you shoot or catch a bird with a leg band, take the band off, make a toll-free telephone call to 800-327-BAND, and report the number on the band.

Or, if you want, pull off the bands and, when you get home, get on the computer, go to and report the number. If you want, select the type of bird, as well. They've listed more than 100 kinds from albatross to wrentit.

If you report an albatross, e-mail me, too.

Mike Leggett writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: mleggett(at)

Story Filed By Cox Newspapers

For Use By Clients of the New York Times News Service