2 posts in 12 hrs

So I just got record from the USGS that a Mourning Dove that I banded in our yard on 24 Aug 08 was shot by a hunter on 6 Sept 08 n a National Forest on the NORTH CAROLINA coast! It left my yard and flew ~640 miles in at least 13 days and got shot. Poor bird, but this is an unusually fast recovery of a banded bird. Most birds never get recovered, let alone that fast. I am banding doves to see where they may turn up around town and on local areas where hunters could shoot them. The eastward migration is weird and we think it may have flown south and got blown north by a hurricane. The spot where ti was shot is basically on an inlet from the Atlantic ocean. Very strange, but very cool! Out of the 5000+ birds I've banded, this is the first ever that was recovered anywhere!!! Sorry it had to die though.