Mourning dove reporting probabilities for web‐address versus toll‐free bands

Abstract

AbstractFederal migratory bird bands have been inscribed with a postal address and toll‐free telephone number (toll‐free bands) since 1995 for their reporting, but in 2007 the postal mail address was replaced with an internet address (web‐address bands). The reporting rate of web‐address bands is unknown, and knowledge of band reporting probabilities is an integral part of bird band‐recovery studies designed to obtain unbiased estimates of harvest rates and recovery rates if use of band types differs across space and time. We estimated web‐address band reporting probabilities for mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) in the United States by comparing the relative recovery rate (ratio) of web‐address to toll‐free bands and applying this as an adjustment factor to the known reporting probabilities of toll‐free bands. Cooperators banded 132,386 doves representing 57,982 (44%) web‐address and 74,404 (56%) toll‐free bands in July and August during 2008–2010 across 34 states, 12 regions, and 3 management units. Of the birds banded, 4,642 (3.5%) were direct recoveries, as a result of being shot, and all but 3 were reported via telephone or internet. Nationally, internet reporting accounted for 16.3% of toll‐free bands and 42.9% of web‐address bands recovered. Web‐address bands had a greater recovery rate than toll‐free bands (ratio = 1.081, SE = 0.027). We found some evidence of spatial variation in ratio estimates at management unit and regional scales, but the variation was primarily at the regional level where it was not great (range = 1.015–1.213) and statistical support for this variation was not particularly strong (SE = 0.129). Nationally, the web‐address band reporting probability was 0.535 (SE = 0.021), an absolute increase of 0.040 compared to the reporting probability of toll‐free bands. The additional reporting probability of web‐address bands relative to toll‐free bands must be accounted for in band‐recovery studies used to obtain estimates of harvest rates and recovery rates if use of band types differs across space and time for mourning doves and possibly other species. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.