The Condor/Volume 1/Number 3/Band-tailed Pigeon Nesting in Santa Clara County, Cal.

The Condor, Volume 1, Number 3 (1899)
Band-tailed Pigeon Nesting in Santa Clara County, Cal.
By William L. Atkinson
1486010The Condor, Volume 1, Number 3 — Band-tailed Pigeon Nesting in Santa Clara County, Cal.
By William L. Atkinson
1899

Band-tailed Pigeon Nesting in Santa Clara County, Cal.

During the last four years I have found two nests of the Band-tailed Pigeon, both in Santa Clara county and within ten miles of San Jose. The nests were both found in oak trees in a comparative oak forest. The first was found April 19, 1895 and was built on a horizontal limb of a white-oak tree twenty-five feet from the ground and contained one squab about a week old. The parent was flushed from the nest and well seen. The second nest was found March 11, 1898 and was built near the end of a horizontal live-oak limb thirty feet from the ground and was just completed. Both nests were compact structures, composed of an outer layer of twigs, filled in with pine needles and lined with fine grass. There are no pine trees in the vicinity, and the birds must have carried the needles from a distance. The pigeons used to be very common in the winter time in this vicinity, but are quite scarce now because of the timber being cut down.Wm. L. Atkinson, Santa Clara, Cal.

(Although the Wild Pigeon has never been recorded as nesting in the valleys of California, there seems to be no doubt of the above record being true. The locality in which they were found is heavily wooded with live mid white oak timber, and has been a favorite feeding ground for this species for years, so it seems not improbable that a few stray pairs remained to breed.—Ed.)