THEFIdC Migratory Birdlife Office expresses heartfelt thanks to all the numerous collaborators and hunters who have sent the wings of the felled doves, allowing to reach the satisfactory result of 1.060 wings analyzed, that is more than double the number of samples received in the previous season which was of 379 ali. We asked for your cooperation and it is a great satisfaction to verify that you have answered with commitment, because it means that yesmore and more hunters understand how important it is to become bearers of knowledge about the biology of huntable species, and collaborators of the research projects of the Office.
We refer the technical considerations to a future article in the Federcaccia magazine, limiting ourselves to highlighting that the youth / adult ratio calculated by the researcher Marco Fasoli, who received and analyzed all the wings, was 2,7 young people for each adult, therefore higher than the value 2,1 of the 2017 season. From a simple preliminary evaluation it is shown that the presence of young in the sample indicates a better reproductive success than that of the past season, and this bodes well for the future of the species. Obviously it is necessary to continue with important samples to follow year after year the results of the nesting and to put them in relation with the evolution of the global population.
For next season we are planning the possibility of collaborate also through photographs of the culled specimens, in order to further increase the sample and therefore the validity of the results. The Action Plan on turtle dove has been approved by the NADEG Committee of the European Commission and the National Plan is in preparation. Both of these tools provide, together with the measures on habitats, the monitoring and the increase of the knowledge of populations. Research on wings is a fundamental contribution to obtaining valuable information on the reproductive success of the species. The hunting world must take advantage of these opportunities for keep the turtle dove huntable, so popular in Italy and in the Mediterranean countries, but everyone's contribution is needed.