Bird behavior

[aveschapinas]

I thought it would be fun to have a thread for reporting interesting bird behavior we observe.

This morning I watched a Great-Tailed Grackle catch and eat a small snake, maybe 4 or 5" long. He didn't try to wash it, which I have observed them to do as well. But it's the dry season now, and while I have a bird bath on my roof I don't think he'd want to use it with me sitting there eating my breakfast.

[SirVive]

Just had fun today watching a bunch of peeps and observing how their little legs are simply a blur they run so fast. Then my daughter was tracking them and running following their trails, what a lot of abrupt turns and loops they made!

[aveschapinas]

Every morning I have my breakfast on my roof terrace and do an e-Bird list. I have noticed that every day a group of about 6 or 8 all-white pigeons/doves fly up as a group and take off in a specific direction, the same every day. I've been counting them as Rock Doves because of the behavior - flying together in a large group - and because we don't have any all-white native species here. The spot where they appear is pretty far away, and the just go up and take off quickly so I can't get a lot of detail; but they are remarkably very bright, pure white, and show that way even in cloudy conditions.

Today I got to wondering - could they be domestic birds? It seems very odd to me that a group of all-white Rock Doves would hang out together on a regular basis, and always emerge from the same spot every day. Is it possible that somebody has them as pets or livestock, and lets them out to fly free every morning? Or, conversely, is there a reason a group of wild pigeons would behave that way?

[aveschapinas]

This morning I saw a Great-Tailed Grackle fly up and catch an insect in flight, flycatcher-style; except the Grackle took off from the ground! He flew to a nearby rock to enjoy his breakfast.

[Greyhawk]

Huge Red-shouldered Hawk watching my back yard from a power line today flew about before I could snap a picture.

My theory is that it is actually doing us a favor as they feed mostly on rodents and small mammals (they are welcome to keep the squirrel population under control for all I care) and would discourage the presence of smaller hawks like Cooper's or Sharp-shinned that would prey on feeder birds.

The local crows have been no help whatsoever in this regard, by the way. Too busy squabbling with Mockingbirds to mob hawks for us. Useless #$*@;s.

[aveschapinas]

Huge Red-shouldered Hawk watching my back yard from a power line today flew about before I could snap a picture.

My theory is that it is actually doing us a favor as they feed mostly on rodents and small mammals (they are welcome to keep the squirrel population under control for all I care) and would discourage the presence of smaller hawks like Cooper's or Sharp-shinned that would prey on feeder birds.

I have had Kestrels a couple of times and I have first noticed a kind of - silence just before I saw it. The first time I saw a Kestrel it was chowing down on a House Sparrow! Oh, and when I've had Red-Tailed and Broad-Winged Hawks flying around it puts a damper on the songbird activity. I'd be happy if they wanted to help themselves to some rodents!

[TexasCobra]

Why would a female bird feed a bird of another species? https://www.flickr.com/photos/124304610 ... Qw-2r27oWy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124304610 ... Qw-2r27oWy

[Charlie Spencer]

Why would a female bird feed a bird of another species?

Who are we to question love?

Which is a nice way of saying I don't have a clue.

[Hooded Robin]

Every morning I have my breakfast on my roof terrace and do an e-Bird list. I have noticed that every day a group of about 6 or 8 all-white pigeons/doves fly up as a group and take off in a specific direction, the same every day. I've been counting them as Rock Doves because of the behavior - flying together in a large group - and because we don't have any all-white native species here. The spot where they appear is pretty far away, and the just go up and take off quickly so I can't get a lot of detail; but they are remarkably very bright, pure white, and show that way even in cloudy conditions.

Today I got to wondering - could they be domestic birds? It seems very odd to me that a group of all-white Rock Doves would hang out together on a regular basis, and always emerge from the same spot every day. Is it possible that somebody has them as pets or livestock, and lets them out to fly free every morning? Or, conversely, is there a reason a group of wild pigeons would behave that way?

I suspect you are correct and they are domestic birds. We have a colony of more than 100 Rock Pigeons and only two or three are all white.

I regularly go down to the local harbor just before sunrise and see the same behavior each time - some examples:

Mute Swans: the three paired sets (there are more than 50 birds) leave their nest sites, even when the cygnets are almost adult size, at the same time and join the non-paired birds.

Cormorants: between 50 and 100 birds fly in from their breeding site on an offshore island (Nottawasaga) and have breakfast in the harbor for about twenty minutes and then head off.

Ravens: the pair or family leave the nest site just after sunrise and head off for the day, this happens well into November.

Rock Pigeons: leave their nesting site in groups of 5 to 15 just after sunrise.

Swallows: the Barn, Cliff and Tree Swallows leave completely as soon as fledging is over.

Common Mergansers: same as swallows.

[aveschapinas]

I suspect you are correct and they are domestic birds. We have a colony of more than 100 Rock Pigeons and only two or three are all white.

Thanks! It's not so much the pattern of emerging every morning that was making me doubt that they were wild, but the fact that they are all white. Like you, I rarely see all-white Rock Pigeons even among thousands in the park. And when I see groups of them they are never sorted by color. I'm not counting them in my Rock Pigeon reports anymore.

But yes, I am enjoying the patterns of bird behavior; at this point I have a flock of Bronzed Cowbirds that pass by every morning. For a while Mourning Doves were doing the same; there is a stable population of them in the cemetery, which is a few hundred yards from my house as the dove flies, and on the other side of my house there is a clear area leading to the mountains. I've also seen Broad-Winged Hawks and Red-Tailed Hawks flying in the same direction.

[aveschapinas]

Why would a female bird feed a bird of another species? https://www.flickr.com/photos/124304610 ... Qw-2r27oWy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124304610 ... Qw-2r27oWy

Time to make a fake video showing birds feeding nest parasite species, claiming it's avian altruism LOL!

[TexasCobra]

Human curiosity about avian reciprocity?

[Charlie Spencer]

As many know, the same cold has inflicted itself on the NC coast. A few days after Sunday's eight inches of snow, I drove by three Brown Pelicans in a tidal creek I cross almost daily, a few miles upstream and inland from the Atlantic. The next day there were 13, and a Fish & Wildlife man was taking pictures. I rolled down the window and commented I'd never seen pelicans here before. He said the snow melt had chilled the entire watershed and stunned the fish, and the birds were taking advantage of it. Maybe they'll still be there today and I can get photos.

EDIT No, they weren't.