I suspect there is a bird of prey nesting in my back yard.

[Arkansas Granny]

Several times this summer I have found my back yard covered with feathers that appear to be from the Collared Doves that have colonized the area over the last several years. They are pretty birds, but very agressive non-natives. Since they showed up, I hardly see any of our native Mourning Doves anymore and they used to be numerous.



It sometimes looks like a pillow fight has taken place. I feed a colony of feral cats, but I didn't think they were responsible because I never found any body parts, just feathers and they were scattered under a tree and nowhere else.

Today I was outside and saw a feather drift down from overhead. I looked up and there were many feathers stuck to the tree limbs above my head. I looked around some more and spotted a rather large nest about 25-30 ft. up in the fork of a branch. It looks to be about 12-18 inches in diameter and made primarily of small sticks and twigs. I didn't see anything happening, but I'll be checking for activity.