Vermont · MigratoryMourning dove

Mourning dove is not a huntable game bird in Vermont at all (absent from the statutory enumerated game-bird list), and VFWD runs no harvest survey, zone map, or regional-abundance program for a species it does not regulate as game. A real, quantified regional signal exists independent of that absence: the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Vermont (1976-81) gives dove occupancy as a percent of each physiographic region's priority survey blocks. Champlain Lowlands, East Central, Taconic Mountains, and Eastern Foothills all recorded the species in 100% of their priority blocks, while Green Mountains (70%) and especially Northeast Highlands (37%) trailed well behind. The Atlas's own species account states directly that the dove is not found in dense forests or at high mountain elevations, and that wintering concentrations specifically track the physiographic regions offering the most suitable habitats and lowest elevations, such as the Champlain Lowlands, Eastern Foothills, and Taconic Mountains, naming Ferrisburg (Champlain Lowlands), Saxtons River (Eastern Foothills), and Bennington (Taconic Mountains) as sites with dramatic historical sighting increases. This is the same low-elevation-agricultural-valley pattern documented for northern bobwhite and other early-successional species elsewhere in the Northeast, and gives a real, sourced regional answer rather than the uniform-statewide default.