Band-tailed Pigeon Columba fasciata Say
STANFORD LOCATIONS: Irregular visitor to campus, most often seen (occasionally in flocks) feeding in eucalyptus or olive trees in the Arboretum or the faculty housing areas. The erratic nature of this species' movements, nesting periods, and abundance are evident on campus, where it can range from virtually absent to fairly common at any time of year.

Nest Location	Nest Type	Eggs Mating System	Dev. Parental Care	Primary & 2ndary Diet	Foraging Strategy
			F I: 18-20 DAYS ALTRICIAL
DECIDUOUS TREE 6 feet - 30 feet	MF	1 (1-2) MONOG	F: 25-27 DAYS MF	BERRIES GRAIN	GROUND GLEAN

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BREEDING:	Oak forest and woodland, conif forest. 2, occ 3 broods.
DISPLAYS:	Courtship: male performs rapid flapping flight, alternating with short glides; in tree, male bows to female.
NEST:	Usu at fork of horizontal branch or at trunk in conif or oak tree; crude, shallow, of crossed twigs with little or no cross-weaving, occ lined with a few pine needles.
EGGS:	White, unmarked. 1.6" (40 mm).
DIET:	Esp acorns, also seeds. Young fed crop milk for ca. 3 weeks.
CONSERVATION:	Winters s to n c Nicaragua. Susceptible to overhunting; once nearly exterminated.
NOTES:	Usu nest as scattered pairs. Gregarious, often seen in flocks of dozens. Nomadic, moving in search of mast crops (esp acorns and pinyon seeds), and likely breeding opportunistically in response to abundant food supplies.
ESSAYS:	Bird Milk; Brood Patches; Passenger Pigeon.
REFERENCES:	Goodwin, 1983; Gutierrez et al., 1975; Leopold et al., 1981.

Help	Abbreviations	Species-Alphabetical	Species-Taxonomic	Essays-Alphabetical	Essays-Categorized
Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).