# Do doves have homing ability ?



## boneyrajan.k

I have never kept doves as pets,so basically i dont have any idea about them,so pardon me,if i am asking a stupid question...
Do doves have homing ability and can they be release outside the cage like pigeons or are they just like budgerigars/finches etc ?


----------



## drifter

I know nothing about the homing ability of doves because I have never owned a dove. Probably most birds have some homing ability depending how badly they want to get back home.

Even our old Collie dog, Rex, had homing ability. My uncle and a friend borrowed him and carried him about fifteen miles away to do some squirrel hunting, he was a hellaceous squirrel hunting dog. Unfortunately they somehow lost him. I don't know what kind of hunter could lose their hunting dog. Fat chance they had of locating a squirrel if they couldn't even keep track of the hunting dog.

Needless to say back at the farm our whole family was devastated, the place just wasn't the same without him being around.

Well, about two weeks later Rex showed back up, he was just laying on the front porch like he had never been gone. The pads of his feet were badly worn and he had lost a lot of weigh but otherwise he seemed to be okay.

I know this is a little off topic but I though I would just throw it in for laughs.


----------



## boneyrajan.k

Dogs do have good homing ability......!!!but ,right now i wanna know about doves ???


----------



## spirit wings

no, doves would get lost pretty quick.... but..when I was a kid, not knowing better I let my pair of ring necks out in the yard and they came back into the cage to eat and to roost for the night..that lasted a few months..then onday they took off, saw them flying over the back field a few times..and then never saw them again.. domestic doves are kept in saftey of a cage and aviary.


----------



## boneyrajan.k

Thanks for the info......


----------



## PigeonVilla

Doves have no homing ability at all ,they are not pigeons you know why would anyone even wantto let their doves out ?


----------



## Crazy Pete

The wild turtle doves we have in Nebraska are a migratory bird so they must have some sort of homing ability.
Dave


----------



## pattersonk2002

*homing*



Crazy Pete said:


> The wild turtle doves we have in Nebraska are a migratory bird so they must have some sort of homing ability.
> Dave


 I have too agree, I have doves and robins that return every year to nest in the same tree and sometimes the same nest, if I could band them I could prove it but whats the use. 

Spirit, I agree with you also, one might get away with it for a while but one day for what ever reason I am sure they will not come back.


----------



## Msfreebird

Crazy Pete said:


> The wild turtle doves we have in Nebraska are a migratory bird so they must have some sort of homing ability.
> Dave


That's what I was going to mention.
I would say that any bird that 'migrates' has a homing ability. But the doves that I have in my area (mourning doves), don't migrate.


----------



## pattersonk2002

*Migration*



Msfreebird said:


> That's what I was going to mention.
> I would say that any bird that 'migrates' has a homing ability. But the doves that I have in my area (mourning doves), don't migrate.


 Your right (sorta) many morning doves will opt to stay the winter if they are being feed or are getting to old to make the flight. A lot of southern states have set up hunting regulations around the migratory time of the morning dove.

I used to feed the wild birds and at any given time during the winter I would have over 50 morning doves waiting for food along with many other types of birds. What I did not realize was that I was also feeding BOP and had to stop, they made my feeders part of there daily routine and it was sickening. anyway, morning doves do migrate and do home. >Kevin


----------



## pattersonk2002

*Link homing doves*

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Zenaida_macroura.html

I thought this was some good reading if you have not already googled morning dove migration. There are many pages and a lot of good reading but I thought this one covered it. >Kevin


----------



## spirit wings

I thought he was asking about domestic doves... pet doves that live in a cage or aviary..


----------



## pattersonk2002

*Domestic*



spirit wings said:


> I thought he was asking about domestic doves... pet doves that live in a cage or aviary..


 YES, you can say that but, it ended up being doves in general and do they have the instinct to home. As you have said earlier, you did have domestic doves you let fly but one day they never returned? I am not sure if he is talking about ring neck doves or what? If you google ring neck dove migration you will also see that they home and migrate. The same goes with pigeons, if you let them out kiss them good bye because you may never see them again but at least they knew you loved them when you let them out.>Kevin


----------



## spirit wings

pattersonk2002 said:


> YES, you can say that but, it ended up being doves in general and do they have the instinct to home. As you have said earlier, you did have domestic doves you let fly but one day they never returned? I am not sure if he is talking about ring neck doves or what? If you google ring neck dove migration you will also see that they home and migrate. The same goes with pigeons, if you let them out kiss them good bye because you may never see them again but at least they knew you loved them when you let them out.>Kevin


what does migration have to do with domestic pet doves... the ones that would not even make it outside in the wild..... wild doves are alot different and savvy and can find food and water.. domestic pets do not do that very well if at all.. so the pets do not migrate.. they will die outside if you can not get them back in the cage or loft to eat and drink.. they can get lost ..so no, they do not home if taken from the "home" and released to return... all though Im sure there are stories out there.. but most would get lost and perish.


----------



## Keith C.

I have had ringneck doves get out several times and I have never permanently lost any.
Two that got out, while a friend was taking care of them while I was on vacation, were gone for over two months and then trapped into my pigeon loft.
The weird thing was all the doves that got out trapped into a pigeon loft.
They did not try to get back in with the other doves.
I have had doves, one in paticular, get out, fly to a 16'x8' fly cage on a pigeon loft and immediately enter.
I do not know if they would come back from any significant distance.


----------



## Jeannine

http://www.dovepage.com/species/domestic/Ringneck/ringneckdove.html

Please do not let Ringneck Doves loose outside!!!


----------



## boneyrajan.k

Thanks guys for the info...


----------

