Trappers and hunters mourn the turtle dove flocks

Turtle dove trappers and hunters will today pack up their gear, as May 22 is the end of the open season.

Trappers who trap at id-dahar in Mellieha, reported catching under two dozen birds over the past six weeks.

"But where have the doves gone," they ask, as they reminisce about the past, when the sky darkened with flocks of turtle doves. Catches of 1,000 doves per trapper in a season were commonplace.

Joe Felice, 62, who has been trapping at id-dahar since childhood, when he used to accompany his father, recalls that his father often caught over 50 doves in one haul.

Indri Mifsud, 68, who has also been trapping at id-dahar since childhood, when he used to accompany is-Sur Guz Bugeja, one of the best known trappers of that time, says they used to trap so many turtle doves they would lose count.

"No one sprang their nets unless there were at least seven birds to catch. Today you may see seven birds on a good day," he said.

Indri this year trapped just three turtle doves. He spent an average of six hours a day since April 10.

Kristinu Vella, 70, from Mellieha, recalls that trappers used to wake up at about 3 a.m., carry the gear in sacks on their backs and walk all the way to the trapping site.

"When turtle doves were migrating in large numbers, we used to hear them flying past in the dark, without seeing them. Then you'd start seeing the flocks before the break of dawn and by 6.30 a.m., an hour or so after dawn, you would start preparing to dismantle everything and return home to go to work.

"We had only seven days' leave and you could not miss work without a valid reason. Turtle doves migrated in huge flocks and whizzed past but you had to pack your nets," he said.

Although in post-war years and up to the late 1960s turtle doves still migrated in large numbers, trappers say that their fathers used to say that the number of doves was declining.

After springing the nets, trappers used to rush out of their hides and pluck the flight feathers of doves trapped under the nets. Then they reset the nets and pick up the birds.

The doves were then kept in lofts, before ending up in the pot. Most trappers recall they used to give some of the doves to friends or distinguished people.

Turtle dove trapping requires patience. According to some trappers, "it is a sacrifice, not a pastime". In February, trappers pluck all the flight and tail feathers of turtle doves used as decoys - so that the birds can grow fresh feathers in time for the season in April.

Closer to the season, the birds are then hooded with hoods made of leather which are painstakingly shaped and sewn on a piece of wood (or metal) shaped like a dove's head. Trappers feed the birds mouth to mouth. They put corn in their mouths and push them into the doves' beaks with their tongues.

Like trappers, hunters these days complain about the dearth of doves and most say they do not shoot more than 10 birds in a season, though some manage to shoot over 50.

Vincent Hili, 63, of Victoria recalled that in his childhood years, hunters took a dozen cartridges with them, fired as few as possible to save them for another day and returned home with eight doves for the pot.

"There were no refrigerators so there was no point killing many. They shot enough to eat. But some used to take dead turtle doves and quail to some gun shops and exchanged them for ammunition. The dealers in turn sent them to be sold at the Valletta market," he said.

Both hunters and trappers blame the use of insecticides and degradation of habitat abroad for the decline. Turtle doves winter in Africa and migrate to breed in Europe in April and May. The adults and young birds cross the Mediterranean again in September to go to the wintering grounds.

Guy Jarry, a Frenchman who works for the Museum of natural history in France, who has conducted studies on the wintering population of turtle doves in West Africa, said the strongest decline of the turtle dove population was observed in 1972, with the first severe drought wave in the Sahel region. Another severe drought dealt another blow in the 1980s.

Doves eat dry seeds and need to hydrate them in their crops to be able to digest the grain. Drought made waterholes where they drink too few and far between.

Hunting in the wintering areas and on their migration routes helped reduce the populations further, he says.