Garden seed diet for threatened turtle doves has negative impact

(University of Lincoln) New research into Britain's fastest declining bird species has found that young turtle doves raised on a diet of seeds foraged from non-cultivated arable plants rather than food provided in people's gardens are more likely to survive after fledging. Ecologists at the University of Lincoln, UK, investigated the dietary habits of European turtle doves using DNA analysis of faecal samples and found significant associations between the body condition and the source of the bird's diet.

from EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science https://ift.tt/2trCWPw