Tell us about bird behavior at your feeder
What sorts of behaviors do you see?
Dominance interactions are playing out at your bird feeder, in the woods, in the field, and anywhere birds occur! Researcher Eliot Miller from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology wants to know about them. Learn how you can contribute your observations using our new bird interaction data form.
In a popular All About Birds blog post, we previously learned about how dominance hierarchies can play out at your feeder. To name just a few examples, woodpeckers might chase nuthatches off suet blocks, big sparrows might chase little ones from seeds scattered below a feeder, and nuthatches might get into it with chickadees. Scientists believe interactions like these might influence species’ distributions at a large scale, yet we really only have anecdotal information about these interesting interspecific interactions. Who chases whom? Which species are dominant, and which are subordinate? Do some species have more aggressive interactions than others? Do the outcomes of these interactions vary seasonally or regionally? We want your valuable input! Tell us what interactions occur at your feeder. 
Because interpreting behavior can be difficult, we have purposefully limited this project to two target behaviors: predation and displacement. Two examples are discussed below. Please read more about the target behaviors and how to collect and submit observational data for this study before beginning your observations. The online data form can be used to contribute observations between any species of birds on your FeederWatch checklist. As data come in, and we begin to analyze it, we may be able to expand the project to include other behaviors and natural history observations. The number of questions scientists can address with observations like these is unlimited! Do crows chase ravens, or do ravens chase crows? What about invasive species? Are they displacing native species from feeders or other food resources? Which hummingbird species are dominant at your feeder? Are migrant species subordinate to resident species on their wintering grounds? What do you see when you’re birding? What do you see at your feeder?
Below are two projects of immense interest to researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Have you seen Cooper’s Hawks try to nab birds from your feeders? What about Collared-Doves, are they displacing other birds at your feeders?
Urban Cooper’s Hawks
photo © Phil Yturbe
Over the last few decades, and particularly in the last 15 years, Cooper’s Hawks have been increasing dramatically in numbers in urban areas. If you go to the FeederWatch trend graphs and type in “Cooper’s Hawk,” you can see your valuable observations at work detecting the increase in Cooper’s Hawk visits to feeder areas. Scientists believe the increase, particularly in urban areas, is due in large part to a reliance on European Starlings, Rock Pigeons, Eurasian Collared-Doves, and White-winged Doves, all of which are common or increasing in urban areas around the country. But scientists do not have a clear understanding of what these hawks eat across their range. Do their diets differ notably between different urban areas? Do the diets of urban Cooper’s Hawks differ from their woodland counterparts? Observers throughout North America, from people watching feeders to those leaving the office for a quick lunch break, see these attempted and successful predation events. Some of these people contribute their bird sightings via eBird and FeederWatch, but until now there hasn’t been any systematic way to record predation events. Scientists want and need information about Cooper’s Hawk predation to better understand what is driving the increase in urban Cooper’s Hawk abundance. Fortunately, there is now a dedicated venue for FeederWatch participants to record their important observations.
Colonizing Collared-Doves
photo © Kevin Carver
Beginning around 2000, Eurasian Collared-Doves have undergone truly impressive population surges across the continent, particularly in the western US. Like Cooper’s Hawks, this surge has been well captured by citizen scientists like you (check out the FeederWatch trend graphs for details)! Collared-Doves now rival Mourning Doves in the percent of feeder areas visited in the Northwest and Southwest United States. White-winged Doves, particularly in the Southeast US, have also increased modestly in abundance over this time. What sorts of aggressive interactions take place between these species? Does one chase the other away from grain, feeders, and other food sources? Will this ultimately influence the abundance of the less aggressive species? Do urban hawks focus more of their attacks on one species or another, and does this vary seasonally or regionally? Scientists simply don’t have enough information to answer these questions yet. A single scientific study would struggle to gather enough information, but as a community eventually we should be able to paint a good picture of how interactions with other species shape these doves’ distributions.
Submit your valuable natural history observations when you enter your Project FeederWatch bird counts. Don’t forget to read the instructions first! And check out this page for more information about what behaviors researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are currently interested in.
153 comments on “Tell us about bird behavior at your feeder”
Sadly, my urban neighborhood has been seeing a drop off in birds. In fact, I used to get feeder activity all the time but now there is almost nothing. There are birds around but they have entirely quit my feeder. Not one has come to visit since late summer. It is distressing. I am not sure why–maybe there are pesticides being used that are driving them away…I just don’t know why. Others in my neighborhood have reported seeing birds but getting no birds at their feeders either.
Perhaps it’s just a warm year, and the birds don’t need the food as much as usual. I hope the birds return for you!
Lack of bird visitation in urban areas is probabally due to hawk presence. We have noticed increased presence from Redtails, Coopers and Pigeon Hawks.
I have noticed a steep decline in cardinals – actually I have not seen a single one since the end of March 2016. We used to have dozens. I live in NE Baltomore, MD.
Plenty of robins. Sparrows, finches,wrens and doves. Just no cardinals. What do you think is going on?
We are in central SC and have 4 pair of Redbirds (cardinals) but our Goldfinch are scarce for some reason.
The Bluebirds are nesting and feeding on mealworms, also. Only a couple Hummers, so far. But oh I miss the Goldfinch. They are beautiful!
We do not have Morning Doves this year. Last year we had one pair. Usually 3 or 4 pairs.
Why do you think they have left?
I have not observed any changes in habitat no major trees have been cut everything is about the same. We have had a variety of Hawks in my feeder area as well a higher number of birds of prey in the general area.
i ve notice a red breasted nuthatch in my feeder all winter in moncton nb, not sure if they winter here or not , also got around 20 to 30 gold finch, a dozen morning dove tons of chicadees, pheasants a dozen starlings and 6 woodpeckers big and small but the 2 bluejays i had visiting before xmas are gone , strange for the absent of jays
Sounds like a really active feeder!
I just put a feeder up 2 weeks for the first time. The first bird came to the feeder within 45 mins. It was probably a black capped chickadee. On a daily basis, I’ve seen the downy woodpecker appear, many chickadees, american finches, some type of wrens, titmouses and a flicker. The chickadees and american finches congregate together at feeder. Some seem to wait their turn at the feeder while others swoop right into the feeder. There’s also a bit of birds flying to the feeder from trees, getting a bite, and then flying away. The feeder is in an open area, but there are trees close by. The squirrels have not gotten to the feeder, yet. I’m looking forward to seeing what spring brings.
We have a pair of Cooper’s Hawks that reside in our neighborhood park. I have seen them catch and eat a Common Grackle and have seen evidence of pigeon or dove meals, i.e. feathers beneath a tree. But I’ve yet to see them feeding near feeders or even in yard, they seem to stay in the park or other open areas in the neighborhood.
I’ve had one pair of Collared Doves this winter, and occasionally see a couple of Mourning Doves, which usually nest in my yard in the summer. I never see both at the same time.
I’ve only seen a nuthatch once. Most of my visitors are House Finches and Black-capped Chickadees (and squirrels!). The House Finches ‘graze’ the feeders while the Chickadees swoop in, grab a peanut or seed, then swoop back to a tree branch. I’ve yet to see any interaction between the two.
I have Dark-eyed Juncos, also no interaction with the other species, they all seem to share. The Downy Woodpeckers don’t frequent my feeders, they stay on the trees. I do have Northern Flickers at the feeders, but not often.
Neat that you saw Cooper’s Hawk catch grackles! I haven’t ever seen that one. I wouldn’t be surprised if those feeder species you mention occasionally interact–keep us posted here or directly by entering your interaction data!
I have many different birds at my feeder. Mourning doves, juncos, white throat sparrows and a few house sparrows eat seed off the ground under the feeders. Chickadees, tit mice, house finch, many gold finch, a pair of cardinals, and a cowbird or two sit in my window box. The goldfinch can be quite aggressive with one another and other birds. I have a pair of downy woodpeckers and a pair of red belled woodpeckers that love the suet cakes. 5 bluebirds eat from my mealworm feeder. The bluebirds and woodpeckers are the dominate feeders but a mockingbird often comes to eat the bluebirds food. I put out peanuts for the blue jays who come in a large group eating all the titmice shelled peanuts and whatever else they can get a hold of. A red tailed hawk has been known to fly in for a quick meal but I chase them off when I see them around to discourage their presence.
That’s an active feeder full of all sorts of interesting interactions! Thanks for telling us about them here. Have a look at the interaction input form (http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions) to tell us about them directly!
Regarding Cooper’s Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk activity at urban feeders, we regularly see Cooper’s Hawks in our area (Germantown, TN; Memphis area) and made several pictures over the years of successful attacks. My wife and I have seen them take Mourning Doves, various black birds, Blue Jays (particularly younger ones) Mockingbirds (particularly younger ones) Robins etc. We have had Eurasion-collared Doves (yes, that’s my photo above) in permanent residence for years now but I don’t recall any of them being taken however we have seen them take young Green Heron’s. They will take smaller birds if they can catch them but I suspect that its meager sustenance for the effort. We usually know when they are around because it gets very noisy (Blue Jays go nuts) or very quite. When they make an attempt the birds go in to their “scatter drill” and head for the bushes. This usually ends in an unsuccessful attack. I have seen them press the attack by diving in to the bushes. That’s determination, but I haven’t seen it work yet. I have seen them spook birds out of the bushes and catch disoriented ones trying to exit. They are amazing to watch but they sure can break up a feeder party.
Yowza, that’s amazing that they can take a young Green Heron. They are spectacular birds to watch, I agree. It seems like the Cooper’s tends to eat larger prey–do you agree? We should be able to say when more data comes in. Nice photo by the way!
I’ve noticed a dramatic decline in the number of chickadees in my area (northeastern Maryland). I hear them occasionally but rarely see them anymore. I know they don’t migrate. Does anyone see the same trend or have any information?
Hi Mandi – As i told another poster, i live in Howard County Maryland (almost in Baltimore County) but with farms on every side of us. 4 years ago when we moved in and set up multiple kinds and locations of feeders, we had chickadees galore! Then each year they got less and less frequent until we have almost none now. We have changed the feeders a tiny bit, but just to strengthen them, not to move them a great distance. We offer ALL different kinds of food, both high and low. Platform and tube feeders. Twice I have seen a coopers hawk get 2 chickadees on separate days at twilight evening. But, that has not kept anyone else away. I’m sorry because i really love the little guys and wonder what’s happening. Best, Diane Davis
I too have seen a decline in chickadees here in northern KY this year. I started seeing fewer of them in the fall and now I rarely see even one. My titmice have dropped off in number too but not as drastically.
I noticed that the number of chick-a-dees coming to my feeder is a lot lower than last winter. We have one faithful pair of chick-a-dees compaired to over 20 -25 goldfinches – perhaps they have been chased out of the area.
I wish I knew more about this to offer some input. Have you explored the FeederWatch trend graphs yet?
This is the first time I’ve put up a feeder in about a year, our condo area had a huge problem with the squirrel population… Granite the feeder has only been up for about a month now but it seems like we don’t see many birds like we used to. I have a three feeders, one with a general mixture of bird food, one suet and one with those little black seeds for finch. I plan to get some meal worms now that the weather is a bit better here in the mid-west.
I saw two blue jays this morning. One kept taking a sunflower seed in its beak and, I suppose open it up on the side of the wooden feeder.
Juncos chasing the redbreasted finches and house sparrows away
Titia
Neat interactions! I didn’t know juncos could be such bullies. Thanks for telling us about them! Try entering directly into the interaction input form here: http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions
My husband Brian and I have a feeder right outside our front room and can easily see it. I also have seen Junco’s on occasion being bullies with each other or other birds on occasion.
Oh, I call juncos the Mafia of the feeder site! They are particularly aggressive when it snows – they seem to have a natural ability to navigate in the snow that other birds don’t. (This is in Georgia so we don’t get much snow)
I’ve noticed that during the unseasonably warm days this winter, not so many birds, but this past weekend, during the record cold, I had tons again. I am having a problem, though, and it’s frustrating me! I’ve never had House Sparrows before, and now I do. I don’t live in the city, I’m more rural/wooded area than suburban. I haven’t changed the food I’m using, I never use millet, these guys are after my suet, and the stuff that the woodpeckers, etc. drop at the bottom. I don’t know what’s going on, it’s kind of driving me nuts!!!! On the other hand, this year, a big male Pileated has visited my suet feeder twice, which has been an amazing thing, I practically hold my breath when I see him…what an awesome thing to see up close! Does anyone have a clue as to why these really undesirables (House Sparrows) have suddenly appeared? If I lived in the city, or even the suburbs, this would make sense. Can you tell this is driving me nuts?
i live in farm country in Northern Maryland, and over the past 4 years, we have had the slow but steady influx of house sparrows, too. Like the person before you said, we have also seen Chickadees go away slowly but surely. There used to be 10+ at a time on the various feeders, but now i’m lucky if i see 4 all day long. Tufties are also on the decline. Mystery indeed! Diane davis, Glenelg Maryland 21737
These trends are all really interesting. I wish I knew more myself. The FeederWatch trend graphs don’t show major declines in chickadees in your region, but there are slight declines. House Sparrows, surprisingly, are actually declining in many areas also! But, in my experience, House Sparrows can be a really localized phenomenon. For instance, if there’s a dairy near your house with lots of grain around, they might build their numbers there, then head for your feeders.
Thank you, that’s really interesting, about the dairy theory. There are no large dairies around here, a very small one about two miles away, and up the road, there are some horses (very sad ones, but that’s another story). None of this is new, though. I only fill my seed feeders till April, and the suet also, unless it gets too warm. I’m starting to believe I’ll just have to ride the rest of this season out, and shoo the house sparrows away, while I can. They aren’t at my feeders constantly, thankfully, they’re never here early in the morning, they seem to suddenly descend late morning, sometimes a lot of them, but then they disappear all at once, once a day. Which I also find curious! Maybe it’s their lunch break!
In the past year I have witnessed hawk predation (successful) at our feeder and just yesterday a Mockingbird showed up and staked out the feeder as his/her own, chasing all but the ground feeders from the feeder. Reminded me of the “sheriff ” Hummers that chase all rivals in the Summer.
That sounds exactly like the mockingbirds I have watched too! And hummingbirds also. They are both “great” at being aggressive and chasing other species off. Send us the observations directly at http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions !
We’ve seen Cooper’s Hawks snatch birds from our feeders several times. So far the victims have mainly been starlings, so reading about the surge in urban populations due to starling reliance is very fitting for my yard. Looking forwarding to adding to my data.
Yes, that makes total sense. It’s very early still, but the data coming in so far is supporting that idea. Lots of observations of Cooper’s taking starlings. I can’t wait to see how many other people are observing the same thing!
Size is the main dominance though cardinals seem more timid than other species. A blue jay or crow will drive away many ground or feeder perched birds but mourning doves on the ground sweeping crew, are tolerant and non-offensive to most other species. Twice I have seen a red-tailed shadow drive down from the long-needle pine trees and panic the birds to flight, one hit the glass adjacent to the feeders and was carried off by the hawk. Different species vary in count and I think that’s due to pseudo-migration during the colder months. I’m in Southern MD on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay.
That’s a load of interesting observations right there! Thanks for sharing! Yes, I’ve noticed cardinals are perhaps a little less “dominant” than what you might think based on their size. The data is starting to suggest the same. Can’t wait to see what else comes in (http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions)
Also, I’m summarizing observations regularly here (http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html) and on Twitter @EliotITMiller as they come in. There’ll be a big update early this week after this first weekend of submission. Keep em coming!
I live in a rural area at the seaside. The spotted towhees are real pests! They chase smaller birds away from the feeders. They stay at the feeders until all food is gone, only disappearing when a hawk swoops in.
I’ve seen Spotted Towhees do similar things before. They are fun to watch though, beautiful beautiful birds. We have very few observations so far from areas with Spotted Towhees–tell us more directly at http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions
This sounds like an interesting study. The behavior I observe most frequently at my feeders is displacement. Anecdotally, displacement is not consistent – for example, sometimes a cardinal will drive a song sparrow away from a sunflower feeder, while other times, a cardinal will allow a song sparrow to feed simultaneously. Red-bellied woodpeckers arriving at the suet feeder will generally cause other birds to scatter. It will be good to collect data around these observations in a systematic fashion.
Regarding Cooper’s Hawks, I’ve observed them taking mourning doves in my yard (I have not seen Eurasian Collared Doves in northern Virginia). I have seen feather piles of juncos and downy woodpeckers, but I can’t be sure what caught them.
Cooper’s Hawks definitely love doves, although we don’t yet have many observations in the database of them doing so. The directionality of displacement definitely can change sometimes. Of course, the Song Sparrow feeding near the cardinal isn’t the same thing as the Song Sparrow displacing the cardinal. Thanks for sharing your observations and participating in Project FeederWatch. You can add the interactions from your feeder directly via the input form. I’m also regularly summarizing observations as they come at http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html and on Twitter @EliotITMiller.
In my own backyard I usually observe more competition within a species than between them. Lesser goldfinches jostle each other for space on the thistle feeder, house finches fight in midair… yesterday I even saw two Black Phoebes fly at each other with claws extended.
There’s a Cooper’s Hawk who visits my yard pretty frequently, and I think it subsists mostly on doves, both Collared and Mourning– judging by the size and color of feathers I’ve found on the ground.
Those are some awesome dramatic observations! We actually left the input form programmed in such a way that it’s possible to submit these interactions between the same species also. Although it’s not the main focus of the study right now, you should feel free to submit those also. We might use them eventually as a measure of how aggressive certain species are in general. Thanks for participating!
Every winter i am overwhelmed by flocks of almost 100 red-winged blackbirds together with brown headed blackbirds. as soon as they see me fill every feeder, they descent on the feeders and even on the ground to get every last morsel. It repels all the smaller birds i used to have: cardinals, chickadees, tufties, mockers, red belly woodpeckers, doves! when the ‘black’ birds are gone, there is not a morsel left, and that is when those smaller, tamer birds come calling to empty feeders. I don’t know how to deter the first group and feel so sorry for the second group, whom i sure will soon go elsewhere to eat. The one group that stays not matter what – Easter Bluebirds, because their live mealworm feeder is farther apart from the others. Bluebirds come the minute they see me and eat until all the grubs are gone. They actually look up at the house as if to call me out for a refill. what to do about the bully birds in huge numbers?
i meant brown-headed cowbirds (not blackbirds).
A few participants wrote about this lately. I guess it depends on how you feel about it, whether it’s a “problem” or not. Here are some ideas from the Stokes about it (supposedly about grackles but also relevant to the other species). http://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/getting-started/coping-with-grackles/
Submit the displacements to http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions ! Many people are reporting aggression dealt out by grackles and blackbirds. It appears much more common than I realized. You can see some of the observations at http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html, but no one has reported any interactions with cowbirds yet–we’d love to have your interaction observations.
There have been 15 to 20 Gambel’s Quail both on the snow and on my deck feeders. These quail have taken over when they are there running off, house finches, house sparrows, 1- red-shafted flicker, 6 – Chickadees, 4 English Sparrows. They seem to be the dominant species around the feeders.
Birds seem to be foul weather friends this year as normal daily activity is down. I don’t go through nearly as much suet and black oil sunflower seeds as previous years.
On freezing days and when it snows they show up in great numbers as always. As soon as it warms up and the snow melts they’re gone again. We always have a few woodpeckers, chickadees, bluebirds, crows, wren, sparrows, etc. that come rain or shine, but the total number is down. The birdbath attracts the thirsty ones during long dry spells and we use a heater in the winter.
Almost all of the interactions (displacements, etc.) occur at the feeders. Those that feed on the ground (junco, sparrow, mourning dove, towhee, cardinal, etc.), seem to be more tolerant of each other and mix freely. There is a large area for them to roam and spilled food from the feeders gets spread around. The exception is the crows. When the crows are around the others given them a wide berth but the crows really don’t chase any of the other birds off.
These are really cool observations, thanks for sharing and for participating! I’ve seen the same with crows. Other birds give them a wide berth, but actually seeing interactions with them and other species is infrequent.
I have observed interactions for some time now, but I have not written anything down so can’t do this retroactively with any accuracy. Looking ahead, should interactions only be those noted on Feederwatch days? Or can they be entered for any observations?
No worries on not being able to do it retroactively. Thanks for being careful! We’d obviously much rather you submit observations you’re confident in. In terms of when you can submit observations for. Because of the way the input form is programmed, and because we are very interested in using the entire FeederWatch checklist to get a sense of what birds visited your feeder around the time of the observation, the interactions do need to have been observed during an official count. If the project is a success, we might be able to make it more flexible in the future. For now we are being quite strict in what data can be submitted. Thanks so much for your interest and for participating!
I live in a very urban area within San Francisco, but near the Golden Gate and Presidio and have a small garden with 3 feeders. Last fall I had what I think was an immature Sharp-shinned hawk hanging around my garden for a few weeks. It seemed to be stalking the birds at the feeders (mainly house finches, sparrows and juncos). Sometimes it would crash into the bushes pursuing the smaller birds as they scattered from the feeders. Once I found the remains of a small bird (a few feathers, some blood and a beak) on my deck railing overlooking the garden. Another time there were a lot of pigeon feathers in the yard and a beak. The hawk eventually went away.
I think we must be neighbors. What a great area to observe birds!
Neat observations! This gives you an idea of how infrequent it is to actually see a successful predation event with these hawks. If you ever do you should definitely tell us about it directly via the input form. We don’t have any Sharp-shinned Hawk observations in there yet. They are so sneaky!
Last year, I witnessed a Sharp Shinned swoop down and kill a Grackle. It was pretty gruesome, but I couldn’t stop watching. It seemed like it took forever, he stood on top of that big black bird, and held him down, and finally flew off with him, I don’t think it was even fully dead. Also, last winter, what was obviously a Cardinal at one time, met an unfortunate end, on our snow covered deck, right outside our french doors. There were red and grey feathers everywhere, on the snow, plus a beak…and it wasn’t until the snow finally all melted that I was able to finally sweep the remains off the deck. The Shinnie hung around our house for a couple of days after…I didn’t begrudge him his meal, but it would have been nice if he had finished it somewhere else. It was interesting, though, to see all those grey feathers, that you don’t see on the surface of a Cardinal.
I’m near Buffalo and Rochester. My blue jays are trained to peanuts (in the shell) on the porch rail and tossed into the yard. They come within minutes of putting peanuts out. There are usually 14 or so. The 4-7 crows follow on. In good weather, the crows wait to see where bluejays take peanuts and then go there to retrieve. Now they have tamed enough to come to the porch rail. Neither bird seems to keep others away. I have tree feeders, ground feeders and suet everywhere. Last winter a sharp shin hawk was a frequent visitor and feasted on cardinals. This season, no kills I’ve observed and no feather piles. We are rural but still have house sparrows (30-40) regularly along with tree sparrows who do not associate with common sparrows. Starlings are back as they didn’t leave because of the warm winter and now they are hungry. They are eating Hawthorn berries mainly. Everyone eats suet. Bluejays take over but when they leave all others return. Chickadee count is way down (3). This study will be fun. Thanks.
Thanks for all these awesome observations! We’re excited to hear stuff like this from participants! I’d love to know if the crows occasionally displace the jays or not. We have both in our own yard, but I haven’t seen direct interactions yet either. Whenever I put the compost out, the jays come in pretty quickly. Actually usually the titmice and chickadees find it first, then the jays hear their little contact calls and come in and scare the little guys off. Before long the crows join in and seem to take over. This is just for a compost pile! I’m summarizing data regularly at http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html and on Twitter @EliotITMiller if you want to stay updated on data as it comes in.
I have been watching the birds in my birdbath. Starlings like to have 5-6 starlings in the bath together, all splashing. The Pine Siskin wants the bath to himself, alone; other siskins or any other kind of bird is not wanted.
Robins want the bath for them selves, also.
About four weeks ago, for the first time, we saw a Cooper’s Hawk siting in the tree where we have our four feeders. There were no other birds visible in our yard. The Cooper’s Hawk has come back twice since then, and both times there were no other birds visible in our yard. We haven’t seen the hawk fly in, so we don’t know if the other birds fly off or hide, or if he’s not coming in at a time when he can snag a meal. He sits on a limb close to the trunk and blends in with the grayish color of the tree, a silver maple. It’s a young tree, six years old, so he doesn’t have much room to move around. This may be inhibiting his hunting. It certainly makes it cumbersome for him to fly off.
The birds we see most often are white & golden crown sparrows, house finches, two California towhees, chestnut backed chickadees, plus 7 rock pigeons who live on a roof nearby. They all get along with each other, and all of them leave when the two scrub jays fly in. As soon as the jays leave, they come back.
This year we are being visited by pine siskins in groups of six to twenty five every day. They chase off the lesser goldfinches, and get aggressive with each other at the nyger sock and the sunflower ball feeders. They have even learned to use the tube feeder and the suet.
So far, this year, we’ve only had one or two Eurasian collared doves in our yard. They don’t seem to bother anyone, and no one bothers them. The mourning doves are notably absent.
We are visited by a yellow rumped warbler and a Townsend warbler who feed off our shrubs. Since we put a suet block on the tree, they are visiting more often.
Oh wow! That’s so many neat species and interactions, thanks for sharing! We don’t have any observations for many of those species. I’m sure interactions are infrequent among them, but maybe, just maybe there are some every now and again. Keep an eye out and tell us what you see here or directly via the input form!
Noticed increased hawk activity this year. Usually just see feather remains but this year my wife saw an attach, Cooper’s or Sharp shinned not entirely sure which.
The rise in Cooper’s Hawk populations has been really notable! Lots of keen FeederWatch participants have reported the same. It’s a truly remarkable phenomenon.
I have managed to keep house sparrows to a minimum by using a method I found on the internet. If you thread a fine wire (but not fishing line) through your feeder from one side to the other, anchor it on the perches and tangle it up a little at the ends, the other birds have no problems getting to food, but the house sparrows really seem to hate it. There is also a thing called a Magic Halo but I haven’t tried it. https://projectfeederwatch.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/do-feeder-halos-keep-house-sparrows-at-bay/
This sounds like a great research project and one that I can contribute to because I enjoy bird behavior more than keeping a life list. Thanks!
Me too! I love recording bird behavior more than anything else! Thanks for your interest in the project, and for participating in Project FeederWatch! You can find regular updates on the data as it comes in at http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html and via my Twitter account @EliotITMiller.
I have noticed that our sharp shinned hawk seems to prefer juncos. Or maybe that is just because they are the easiest for it to catch. When the hawk swoops towards our feeders, the juncos are usually the last to panic and head for cover. As a result, they become easy pickings for the hawk. Often a tiny pile of grey feathers and fluff is the only sign of another visit by the hawk.
We have had two or three pairs of Eurasian collared doves for the last three years. Really have not noticed them not getting along with the mourning doves. They share space under the feeders peacefully. Seeing a hybrid of the two show up would not really shock me all that much.
I too have noticed the Sharpies really seem to go after the smaller birds like juncos. Can’t wait to see whether the observations that come in confirm this suspicion. Other people have reported a general lack of aggression between the dove species. I would have said it would be very unlikely to see a hybrid between the two species, since they are in different genera and hybridization is very uncommon between members of different genera, but there are a few reports online of possible hybrids between the two. I don’t know if it’s a confirmed phenomenon. Definitely let us know if you ever see that!!
We saw a Cooper’s Hawk, and later found remnants of a Rock Pigeon under the feeder. There was a loner pigeon and we think it was him.
I live in a suburban NE Ohio and most of the birds at my feeder are House Sparrows, sometimes dozens of them. We’ve seen only one dark-eyed junko this year and few black-capped chickadees. There have been some blue jays, European Starlings, Common Grackels, and Mourning Doves, and there are a few Cardinals who visit daily.
Thanks Penny for the info! We don’t have any submitted observations yet of Cooper’s Hawks eating Rock Doves, but it’s certainly something that does happen. It would be great to have some observations like this. Let us know if you have any direct confirmation of this! It certainly sounds like you are spot on with what happened, but for now we’re only recording confirmed predation events.
We mainly have goldfinches, who seem to take turns. If they all scatter, it may mean that a scrub jay will turn up. The jays are a bit heavy for the feeder but they compensate by either turning sideways to put some weight on the body of the feeder, or by flapping their wings frantically while they feed.
I have just found your information site here in search of info on eye diseases in birds .We’ve had a couple house finches and or purple finches at our feeders with what we now think is “Conjunctivitis”.Is this common in our area ( midwest Iowa) ? And what can we do about this ? Should we do away with these infective birds ?
Hi Linda, sorry to take so long to get back to you. Check this page out if you haven’t already: http://feederwatch.org/learn/house-finch-eye-disease/
I live in a nursing home in Portage IN and last year,2015, we had a pair of Coopers Hawks that
came to our yard . One would perch on top of the arbor and the other in a nearby tree. They would hunt ,catch and eat the voles in our yard.
Today I saw one sitting in the tree and when I said the Cooper is back what a group came to the
windows to watch.
Deborah, this is such a great observation! Thanks for sharing! It makes me happy to hear that so many people were able to enjoy the bird at the same time.
I live in an urban community that I have been watching change over the past 40years from a much more rural area to an urban area,crowded and noisy.the change in the bird population is very noticble.We had a wide variety of songbirds and Hawks and other types of birds. All we see now are house sparrows,house finches and many Mourning doves.We miss the variety we used to have.
Marion, sorry to hear about the slow loss of the bird diversity. It’s definitely a real phenomenon. In the mean time, keep an eye out for certain species like Cooper’s Hawks that are on the rise in urban areas!
I am posting from San Francisco California and I wish more of you would tell the general location of your feeding site. It would make the information much more useful.
I used to feed the birds at my home in Maine and report to FeederWatch on the old paper forms. Then I became a migratory person, spending the winter in very urban SF. and missed that interaction with the birds so I decided to hang up a tube feeder and see what would happen. 4 years later I still use the tube feeder plus 1 hummer feeder, 2 suet cages, 1 platform where I scatter a cup of mixed seed each morning for the ground feeders and 1 little tray with a spoonful of grape jam for the 2 Warblers I see – a Townsend’s and a Yellow rump (just like Mary Lu). All these feeders are on the small fire escape outside my window, one story up on the backside of a small apt. building. 1 or 2 Scrubjays visit occasionally and scare all the other birds away but otherwise it’s just the usual pecking order. I was seeing a few chestnut backed Chickadees but none for the past month. I think they were only coming because their usual food sources were scarce but are probably just fine now after the rains. Also I see yellow variant House Finches along with the usual red and they seem to be more aggressive at the feeders, pushing away other Finches as well as Siskens and Juncos. I love the Yellow rump Warbler who is very timid and only feeds when the noisier flocks have left. The Townsend’s Warbler is much bolder and is not scared off from the hummer feeder by an Anna’s.
Wow! What an exciting eccentric mix of species you have coming in. Thanks for sharing and for participating!
I do occasionally see a rather nasty Sharp-Shinned hawk in action and we do have a number of raucous Blue Jays but I doubt they are the reason for the almost total lack of birds at my feeders this winter. Hopefully spring will bring more.
I live in a very safe, lush, rural environment in Pennsylvania and in past years have seen upwards of 40 species of birds. This entire winter has been limited to a handful of White-Caps, Juncos, Mourning Doves, and the Jays. Oh, and one lonely Hairy Woodpecker.
Very intriguing thread here! It’s so important to see the trends of behavior in birds right now. Thanks for sharing your experiences, everyone.
Wanted to mention an unusual citing for western Tennessee. From mid January to mid February I have been fortunate to observe one yellow throated warbler feeding on both my suet feeder and on my peanut feeder. Usually this warbler specie winters in southern Florida into Central America. Pine warblers and yellow rumped warblers are common to feeders in western Tennessee during the winter months and it appears the yellow throated warbler made a good wintering companion in the pine warbler as they were always observed feeding together at my feeders.
Wow that’s so cool! A Yellow-throated in TN in winter. Lucky, thanks for sharing your observation! Did you ever see the Yellow-throated Warbler interact with any other species? Let us know! Thanks.
Another short story I would like to share. We had one cold spell in western Tennessee in mid January with perhaps 1/2 inch of snow where I reside. On this particular day I was looking out my window and observing the usual visitors on my oiled sunflower feeder with a platform feeder underneath. There were a bunch of house finches a few American goldfinches in their winter plumage and One Pine Siskin. I had a similar experience last winter however after a few days about a 1/2 dozen siskins joined in at my sunflower feeder. I’ve always read siskins were very gregarious. Not so at my feeding station!
I just did! The one about the rogue robin!
I live in the College area of San Diego and in my neighborhood, we have a Cooper’s Hawk who I have seen flying all around my neighborhood when I am out for a stroll with my dawg. I have not noticed any starlings in my backyard, but there are a plethora of them a couple blocks away that are always on the electrical lines and near several huge date palms in front of an apartment complex. Having said that, I do have the Eurasian Collered doves in numbers at my ground feeder along with all kinds of finches and sparrows who seem to co-exist with one another. So, perhaps that Cooper’s Hawk is after those. I know when it is around when all the birds suddenly take flight (lots of noise and effort for the doves) and the hawk swoops down and lands on my back fence. All I can do at that point is to go outside and raise my fist at it…maybe throw some nearby pebbles at it…or it tends to linger there for 15-20 minutes.
Cooper’s Hawks are good at what they do! Impressive to think of them surviving just fine in both downtown San Diego and the deep forests of the upper US and southern Canada.
Yes, I have Cooper’s Hawks that visit me downtown SD every evening just before dusk. They appear now almost like clockwork, like I can go out and expect them to arrive at exactly 6:30 p.m., this time keeps getting earlier in coordination with season sun setting time changes, but other than that, it’s pretty consistent. Right before sunset, they either will be hoovering above in the sky, or come to my specific street and perch on the building parapet across the street and watch for prey. I rarely see them in middle of the day but one time I saw an adult male at lunch time use the street lamp right across the street from me as his plucking stump. I think he had an adult male sparrow he was picking apart. But whenever they come around, all the pigeons take off all at once, so they probably go after them too, however, I have not seen them kill a pigeon yet. I’m pretty sure there’s a whole family that lives somewhere nearby, as I see them all the time, and have seen a juvenile, mom and dad. And I know mom and dad so well now, I know which one is the male and which one is the female. The male has lighter more cool colored cheeks, darker red eyes, and is slimmer and smaller, and the female is bigger, plumper and has browner warmer cheeks and warmer colors overall, and has lighter more orange red eyes. I used to see dad more often, but now I see mom more often, so she probably was on nest before or something. They also probably know who I am as they often watch me as I watch them. Makes me wonder what they think of me sometimes.
There’s no provision for sex specification. Twice today, I saw cardinal displace cardinal. First, it was a female displacing a male. Then I saw a male displacing a female. I could enter each as “cardinal displacing cardinal”, but I don’t think that captures the event properly.
Thanks for your interest in the project! You’re quite right, there is currently no way to denote the sex of the birds. And, likewise, you’re quite right that this is a potentially very important aspect of the interaction. I’m trying now to make it so one can at least add notes like this to the data entry form. I hope that can happen soon. I apologize that it’s not more seamless, but this is the pilot run, and I expect to encounter other difficulties like this. I definitely would like to add columns to note the age and sex of the birds, if possible. Other users have already been asking for that. I am trying to toe the line between asking too much of people (and therefore ending up with complicated data that is difficult to analyze), and letting people tell us about all the cool stuff they see (and that I want to hear about!).
Either way, thanks for your interest! I’m summarizing observations regularly at http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html, and also on Twitter @EliotITMiller. I’ll be writing a new blog post for FeederWatch in a week or two when enough data is in to warrant a big summary.
I put out a peanut butter, crisco, chicken crumble mixture for my birds all winter. The first to arrive at about 6 am each is one of the pair of mockingbirds. He eats some of the feed and then chases after any other birds usually English sparrows who come in his vicinity. This goes on for about 1-2 hours. Maybe it just stops when the food is gone!
Jean, this is a great observation! Thanks for telling us, we love hearing about this sort of stuff. Also, if you haven’t already done so, please read the instructions on inputting the observation and then do so directly at http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions !
I live in Home Gardens by Corona, CA and about nine months ago started maintaining several feeders with nyjer, safflower and black oil sunflower seeds, and sugar syrup and jelly in the spring and summer, as well as multiple bird baths. We also have several fruit trees around, including a giant fruiting mulberry, as well as open fields in front of our house, all of which attract a wide variety of birds. As my bird caring activities started attracting more birds, a pair of Cooper’s Hawks moved into the eucalyptus trees in front of our house and now frequently attack the birds in our property. By collecting feathers of the victims and witnessing multiple attacks over the last several months, I have seen the hawks kill Mourning Doves, Eurasian Collared Doves, Northern Mockingbirds, European Starlings, a Barn Swallow, a Hooded Oriole and House and Lesser Finches. I have also seen them actively chase White-crowned, Song and House Sparrows but have not confirmed that they were caught. We have many other bird types around our yard in different times of the year. Some of them (such as Cassin’s Kingbirds and American Robins) lately seem always on high alert/stress because of the constant presence of the hawks. Recently, I started noticing that the hawks launch attacks inside our property multiple times in one day. Today was one of those days, with attacks starting early in the morning (7 AM) and ending at dusk (around 5 PM), with three piles of feathers left behind, in different parts of the yard, the remains of a Mourning Dove and two Lesser Finches. Other possible victims were also likely saved by my getting in the middle of the action and causing the hawks to fly away when the hunting was just too relentless. We have all the right conditions to provide good cover for the birds at our feeders (low and tall bushes, different types and sizes of trees and shrubs, big cacti, open grass areas, etc.), but the hawks are so persistent that they end up catching someone, often. I have seen them ambush and chase their prey from within fruit trees, from the tall eucalyptus trees, from light posts, from the roof of houses, at ground level, by the bird baths, etc. I have been seriously considering temporarily dismantling the feeders and bird baths since they seem to be exacerbating the many killings by attracting lots of song birds into a small location, but I haven’t yet decided what to do. Since most of them visit at least the bird baths, I am concerned about the arrival of the beautiful spring migrants such as the Western Tanagers, Grosbeaks, Swallows, Hooded Orioles, etc, and their possible fate in the talons of the resident Cooper’s Hawks. This is a big dilemma, as I am not sure about what the right thing to do is. Even if I temporarily dismantle my song bird sanctuary, I don’t think the hawks will permanently move away from their eucalyptus trees, allowing me to put my feeders and bird baths back out. And permantly removing the food and water sources seems like such a harsh decision to make!
I read your interesting comment about the hawk predation your birds are suffering. Sad. I know they are a natural species, unlike cats. but to lose so many birds to them is not good. I too have many birds here, and only sporadically have a Coopers Hawk come through, and it usually only takes a mourning dove or sparrow, but I am fairly sure I have lost a blue jay also, and possibly cardinals. But my biggest problem, by far, is cats. It is so bad I have to set my own traps in my yard, and when I get one, which is every time, I must pay a fellow I know to destroy them. They are not a part of the natural ecosystem. I am extremely angry when I must witness a cat kill a bird, or especially a baby bunny.
Hi David, yes, it is MUCH easier for me to accept the Cooper’s Hawks attacks on the birds in my yard than it would be any killing done by stray cats. Hawks are ultimately a beautiful natural element of wild bird habitat and, as hard as it is to see them hunt their prey, I still accept and respect them as such. I had a few problems with cats in the past but the problem was solved when a kind neighbor humanly trapped them and, with a donation from us, took them to a cat rescue center that spays and nesters them and has a strict policy of only adopting them out to people who will keep them indoors. We have birds in our yard, like the precious Allen’s Hummingbirds and Western Tanagers, that are suffering major populations declines. Like you, I simply cannot allow stray cats to roam around my yard killing the beautiful birds that count on the food, water and ecosystem I so carefully maintain for them, so I am always on the lookout for any signs of wild cats roaming around my yard. I have a cat, but she has not once left the inside of the house, pet ownership should come with a responsibility to not allow our pets to turn into yet another source of destruction for our beautiful wildlife.
One additional comment about the Cooper’s Hawks: while they mainly seem to prey upon birds that visit the feeders, they have also caught some Starlings and a Barn Swallow, both of which which have never visited my feeders. The Barn Swallow was likely a young juvenile that recently fledged from one of the nests under the eaves of our house. The Starlings appeared to be matured adults, based on their plumage. Startings frequently visit our bird baths, which is why they may be falling prey to the hawks. Last, I have not noticed the Mourning and Collared Doves in any conflict or competition with each other at the feeders, they seem to eat in harmony, with the Mourning Doves outnumbering the Collared Doves by an approximate ratio of about 3:1.
Fabiola,
Holy smokes, thanks for sharing all the amazing observations!! I’m sorry to hear you’ve been having trouble with the Cooper’s. On the other hand, that sure is one heck of a robust ecosystem you have going on at your feeders! If any of those Cooper’s Hawk predation events overlap with FeederWatch counts, please submit them directly at http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions. That is a host of awesome data. If you even have approximate dates and a location for your feeders, feel free to email me directly at feederwatch.interactions at gmail.com, and I can enter a few manually. It is best to enter them yourself, but if they don’t overlap with a count then you can definitely email me.
In terms of the Eurasian Collared Doves and the Mourning Doves, that’s very interesting. We are seeing a surprising lack of interaction between those two species so far. Tell us if you see any interactions between them!!
Last, I was shocked to hear about the Barn Swallow being taken by the Cooper’s, but your second post that it was a young bird clarified things for me. Thanks again for sharing!
Hi Eliot, unfortunately, I am not a participant in the FeederWatch program since I have just recently become acquainted with Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I may do that in the future and should be able to document specific events related to Cooper’s hawk predation since I have unfortunately witnessed a few of them inside our yard. I work from home and keep multiple feeders and birdbaths visible from different areas of the house. I also garden outdoors for extended periods of time. So, it hasn’t been hard for me to catch a Cooper’s hawk in the act more than once. And I have to admit that my husband and I have intervened in some active attacks and chased a hawk off more than once. There are specific sections of the yard where these hawks attack by surprise, sometimes cornering multiple birds at once and ending up killing one. So, when I see or hear a raucous in those sections of the yard, and see the hawk in action (if they don’t kill by surprise, I have seen them aggressively chasing and terrorizing the hidden birds until one falls victim), my husband or I will run into the action and make the hawk fly away, hopefully empty handed. Last 2/29, after several thwarted attacks the day before, we finally witnessed a mourning dove and a Lesser finch get consumed in a tree inside our yard, with the ensuing “rain” of feathers slowly falling down on our yard. Later that same day, yet another finch was attacked and consumed in a different feeder, which prompted me to find your post and comment in it. I have also seen the hawks drinking and bathing in the bird baths I maintain, so, they seem to be very comfortable calling my yard “home” much to my distress sometimes. While it is a little hard to see the mourning doves, finches, mockingbirds, etc., fall victim, it was particularly not easy for me to see a Cooper’s hawk fly away with a barn swallow in its talon last August, with the ensuing distress of the remaining swallows. I only get a few barn swallows in spring that produce just a few precious babies which are very vulnerable when fledging and as young juveniles. I don’t have a big enough barn swallow population to spare to any type of predation, and since I would like for them to always return to nest in the eaves of our house, the constant threat of the Cooper’s hawks is distressing to us. There are also red tail hawks lurking around. We recently captured pictures of one red tail hawk catching and eating a rock pigeon on the telephone post right next to our home and have also seen them with rodent prey, but I have not seen one attacking and killing birds deep inside our yard like the Cooper’s hawks do. We live in a busy, fully developed neighborhood, just the bird baths, right trees/vegetation and feeders produce this much action, including a bit of a gauntlet situation for the songbirds, courtesy of the naughty pair of Cooper’s hawks that also calls this place home!
I’m new to this website. I saw it mentioned on Growing A Greener World on PBS. I have been feeding the birds and other wildlife in my back yard for years, here in SW Illinois. I have suet feeders and a hanging thistle feeder, as well as feeders for hummingbirds when they come back in the Spring. I also put lots of mixed seed and black oil sunflower seed on the ground in my large feeding area in the middle of large trees. The many regulars start coming just before daylight, those are the ground doves or mourning doves, along with cardinals. As soon as daylight hits I have a large group of blue jays that come each morning. During the winter there were 8-12 each morning. That has tapered off to about 5 or 6 now. The more snow that is on the ground the more jays I have. I put out the peanuts in the shell for them and they go crazy for them. About that time the squirrels arrive. I have 6 regulars, but at times in the winter I have had 12 all around on the ground feeding area and in the trees. Up to 6 or 7 squirrels will sit peacefully together eating sunflower seeds, and some peanuts. As for Cardinals, during the snowiest times I had 20-25 at a time each day. Now they are down to about 10 regulars. The blue jays swoop down from the maple tree and grab a peanut and take it either to a branch or the roof to get the nuts out. In early Spring, about now, the jays tend to start hiding the peanuts (in the shell) somewhere in the yard. I have seen them bury them in a low spot and cover them with leaves or grass. The squirrels as well will bury many peanuts. I have both mourning doves and collared doves, usually more of the mourning doves. They will come and go during the day, and sometimes both be here at the same time. Last year I had many of both, but their numbers have dwindled. I saw no collared doves here for several months late last year, but a couple pairs have returned this late winter/early spring. Other species I have include goldfinches, not too many, a half dozen or so of juncos which like to feed alongside the cardinals, many sparrows of course, the downy woodpeckers on the suet feeder, 4 regulars, a yellow-bellied woodpecker that likes the peanuts, black-capped chickadees, a couple nuthatches, and today I saw a titmouse here, but they are scarce. I have wrens that build here in the yard when they come back. Usually a pair of flickers later in the spring. The starlings come around sporadically in small flocks. Lately the starlings have discovered the suet feeder and one or two will hang on it and fight each other, keeping the little woodpeckers waiting on the tree for it. I try to put pieces of bread out just for them. One week ago, about Feb 22, the grackles returned. I have a group of 6-8 that decided this is their feeding spot. They stay all day in the trees and tend to monopolize the area. They are the most skittish though, and will take off the second they see me at the window. The grackles turn mean when they have babies in the nest of just out of the nest. They will kill sparrows quite often. I have run out to stop it, but usually cannot save the sparrow because the grackle has broken its neck. I will find headless sparrows in the yard in late spring from the grackles. Once in awhile there is a hawk that comes by, especially in bad winter weather. They come in from the nearby wooded and rural areas. I have witnessed them taking mourning doves several times. The jays all scream loudly when one is in a tree nearby. The squirrels also will go up the tree and bark. I have seen the hawks fly into a large nearby bush after sparrows, and once in awhile come out with one, which they eat while in the oak tree or under the pine tree. And the rabbits–I have 2 or 3 rabbits that are here year round. They usually have several nests in the yard in the spring, starting now. They like to come during the night and eat from the ear corn I put on the ground, when the squirrels haven’t taken it up a tree. I have even seen cardinals taking kernels of corn off an ear, even though there is lots of cracked corn in the seed mix I put out. Oh, yes, the robins just came back a few days ago, more are on the way. The robins build several nests in my trees, and like to hunt the loamy soil around my feeding area for red wigglers or night crawlers. Thanks.
David,
What a great set of critters you have in your yard!! It sounds like a veritable zoo. Really exciting. I’m not surprised to hear about the aggression by the grackles. A number of participants have been reporting similar things. But I am surprised to hear about how frequently they kill the sparrows! Wow! I didn’t know that. Amazing really. It sounds like you have a really good grasp on the dominance hierarchy at your feeders, and when different critters (birds and otherwise) are most prevalent. If you join FeederWatch, send us some of the interaction data too!
Eliot
Here in NH the most dramatic displacement is when the turkeys arrive. I have a small flock of 6 (was 7 but the weak one everyone else attacked stopped showing up) and when they occasionally arrive the other birds leave the feeders including the woodpeckers and nuthatches on suet feeders and even the squirrels all leave and hide until the big ground feeders are gone.
We had blue jays until November showing up daily at the time the peanuts were put out but they have vanished.
I’ve seen a raven lurking around but not on the feeders. All the other birds appear to be gone when that one is in the background somewhere.
We get goshawks after squirrels and chipmunks. The fledglings showed up for several days in the fall this year missing many many attempts to grab a meal but during the winter before I saw one come sneaking through the trees using big pine trunks as cover and zip around the closest big tree to the feeders to nail the very biggest squirrel. I figure its all ‘bird feeding’. The small birds as well as the squirrels leave for that.
Oddly the times the barred owl has sat near the feeders in stormy weather the smaller birds seem less concerned continuing to feed on the feeders and I’ve even seen a woodpecker near the owl on the same tree.
Today the pileated woodpecker showed up. I do not see them all winter but as soon as the sun starts hitting the dead trees they begin to show up. I think the ‘bugs’ may move around a little as the dead trees warm and that is when I see the pileated show up for meals.
Wow! Really neat observations Nancy. Thanks for sharing! We don’t have any turkeys in the database yet. I hope this coincides with a count day so you can submit some. Not surprised to hear they displace the other birds. If you see them chase any other birds off, definitely submit it! Thanks again for sharing!
The only bird I’ve seen the turkeys push around was the smallest lower ranking bird that vanished. It wanted to be with the flock and would keep trying to get closer to being with the others but they kept pushing it the furthest away from the feed and sometimes right off the yard edge into the woods.
They arrive silently and only when they have been there for a while do I see them when they start to ‘talk’ among themselves or make noise scratching stuff up.
No one messes with the red bellied woodpecker if he wants the suet he can have it, the nuthatches chase each other around off the suet but won’t bother the hairy woodpeckers. The downy woodpeckers seem to hold their own against nuthatches too.
Nancy, thanks for the info on the turkeys! That’s really interesting that they don’t interact frequently with other bird species. I guess it makes sense, they’re quite different ecologically. All the other interactions you mention are very much in accord with what others have been submitting on http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions. You can see those interactions fairly well in the network diagram at http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html.
Thanks!
Eliot
I have a variety of species at my southwest Washington state feeders. I’ve noticed some courtships starting and even some molting. Is this due to the early spring here in the Pacific Northwest or are there other forces involved like the early spring equinox on March 19 instead of 21?
Hi Lori, not an expert, but I’d guess the early courtship is due to the early spring! Some species are better than others at breeding when it gets warm early.
I live in south central Indiana in a semi-rural neighborhood. I usually have a regular red-bellied woodpecker, sometimes two, but this winter a red-headed woodpecker shows up on occasion and aggressively drives the other woodpeckers away. The red-bellied woodpecker is not showing up as often now. Goldfinches and house finches share the feeders, but get displaced by titmice and carolina chickadees. None of them will go to a feeder when a woodpecker of any species shows up. Blue jays are dominant – not so much driving other birds off as the other birds tend to avoid them, with the red-bellied woodpecker being an exception. Size matters! Larger birds tend to get their way. But as others have observed, mourning doves seem to co-exist peacefully, although by sheer size and numbers can keep other birds off the ground feeder. Grackles, red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds like to feed together. All the other birds give crows a wide berth. And none of the birds want to mess with squirrels! When there is plenty of food on the ground, birds tend to sit in one place and eat peacefully. When it starts getting scarce at the end of the day they get pretty competitive. I will watch more carefully to see which birds are more aggressive about pushing others out of the way for morsels.
Eve, thanks so much for these observations! We only have a single interaction involving Red-headed Woodpeckers in the database. I’ve seen them interact with Red-bellied also though. The single time I saw the interaction, the Red-headed chased off a Red-bellied. If this overlaps with a count day, PLEASE SUBMIT IT! This is a really valuable interaction. The other interactions are of course really valuable also, and are very much in accord with what others have been submitting on http://bit.ly/feederwatch_interactions. You can see those interactions fairly well in the network diagram at http://eliotmiller.weebly.com/feederwatch-interactions.html.
Thanks!
Eliot
Just noticed that my comment was not entered. So here goes.
Around the time of the Great Backyard Bird Count weekend, I noticed a large, male robin around the front and back of my condo. (Earlier in this strangely mild winter in NE Ohio, there was a flock of robins feeding on the unfrozen lawns. I don’t know where they went when it turned colder, but none were observed. (In past, much colder winters, I thought they went south, until I saw a flock in Solon, OH, several miles away.)
He always chased the bluebirds away (two bluebird “couples” feed at my 2 squirrel busters in the back patio area as well as the small tray that holds nuggets & raisins in the front porch area) whenever they visited the feeders, front or back. He would just sit on a higher tree branch, then dive and attack whenever a bluebird went to a feeder. He only did that to the bluebirds, no other species. (I do Project Feeder Watch and live at the top of a wooded ravine. So a nice variety of species visits here and are recorded.)
Not only have I never witnessed aggressive robin behavior, he was also observed eating seed on the ground, along with the other ground feeders on several occasions! It was as though, since he couldn’t get to the food that the bluebirds ate (due to his large size) he wasn’t going to let them eat either!
Hi Linda,
Wow this is a really neat observation! Thanks so much for sharing it. Another participant also reported seeing robins drive off bluebirds. It makes sense size-wise, but both birds tend to be infrequent at feeders, so I didn’t think we’d get any such observations. Neat. You provided enough detail here with the notes about the date and the interaction that I was actually able to enter your observation for you, but let me know if you have any questions about how to do so yourself in the future: feederwatch.interactions@gmail.com.
Thanks!
Whenever I put out the seeds for the birds and I go back inside they always come swarming in. There was a lot of cardinals this winter I noticed. I saw a male robin fly down onto the feeder and I was surprised because that was the first one that I saw in a long time. The birds would always fight over the food. There were some black birds that I couldn’t get a good look at that swarmed down and just started to eat all of the food. Whenever the other birds tried to eat some the black birds wouldn’t let them. Then they flew away. Just a couple of weeks ago I saw a woodpecker on the branch of my tree. It was a beautiful bird. I noticed that I didn’t have problems with squirrels eating the seed this winter unlike last winter when I fill it up and after three days it gone. I was costing me money with buying bird seed so I got a new feeder and the squirrels can’t get onto it anymore they eat whatever is on the ground. It was a good winter and I had found a nest as I was trimming my trees and there were no eggs in it but I will be keeping an I on the nest. (I did not touch the nest and I left the tree alone after I saw it but it was exciting.) I have a feeder in the front lawn were my cat can watch the birds but the birds don’t mind at all as if they know that there is glass there! I will keep you updated in the nest.
Hi Cassie,
Thanks so much for sharing your observations! It’s so neat to hear about how similar the behavior is people are seeing at feeders around North America. The black birds were probably Common Grackles, maybe Red-winged Blackbirds. Many people have reported that they are really aggressive while there, then just as quickly fly off.
Thanks!
Eliot
Also, keep us posted on the nest–that’s really exciting!
I am new to feeders, so having so many woodpeckers at my suit baskets, I decided to set up some cameras. Well, high tech I am not very, so after a struggle with online manuals and phone instructions, I have recording potential. Great, cause within days I got about 5 minutes of a pileated pounding the basket hard enough to explain why I found it on the ground once. Since, I have a close up of an adult male pileated and several angles with great lighting.
Now, I would love to share my results and from what I believe; there are dozens if not thousands of potential bird cam spots. (enough to create a TV channel or web sight to share these magnificent creatures with all subscribers).
up with that ?
This is a great idea, and really really cool that you’re doing it! Pileated on camera is so neat. I don’t know much about how to start streaming the video to others, but it seems like a great great idea. Have you seen the Cornell feeder cams like this one: http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/40/Cornell_Lab_FeederWatch/ Check them out if not!
Eliot
I have both mourning doves and eurasian collared doves in my backyard in central California. There are a lot more mourning doves, and I don’t see the collared doves as often as the mourning doves. They appear to be getting along with each other with neither chasing the other. They feed next to each other under the feeders.
The only bird I see doing any chasing is the western scrub jay. They swoop toward my feeders and scare away the finches. I have two sunflower seed feeders hanging from a tree. If the finches leave the feeders, but stay in the tree, the jay will swoop at them until they leave the tree. Would this be mobbing or displacement or both? As soon as the jay leaves, the finches come back. The doves aren’t scared away by the jays.
Karen,
Thanks for the observations! I wish I’d responded earlier, sorry for the delay. Yes, this would be displacement, if the jays are actively chasing off the finches. Because this has been a common question, I clarified recently in the behavior descriptions (http://feederwatch.org/uncategorized/different-bird-behaviors-explained/) exactly what the difference is between mobbing and displacement. It can certainly be subtle, but this is a good case of displacement. Let me know if you have any questions about how to submit the data, we’d love to see it in the database!
Eliot
We live in the suburbs, in an area that is constantly being paved over with new housing developments.
We have put feeders out every year since we moved here (30 years ago).
I am actually seeing a lot more feeder activity this year, and am wondering if the loss of “natural” food is the reason – there are few forests or fields in this area any more. (We have had the mildest, most snow-less winter on record this year, so I don’t think the increase in feeder activity is weather related.)
We have always seen the common birds – chickadees, cardinals, nuthatches, finches, blue jays, mourning doves, titmice, sparrows, (and gray squirrels, red squirrels, chipmunks, voles); but there is a very noticeable increase in the number of woodpeckers (Downey, Hairy, Red-bellied) – including a pair of pileated woodpeckers who come to the suet feeders at least once a day, sometimes separately, but often together. Again, I wonder if this isn’t because the developers clear-cut the land to build; there are no trees, and certainly no standing dead trees. Are there actually more birds, or are they being concentrated in a smaller area?
There is a Coopers Hawk who visits, although I haven’t seen him catch any birds. I dd see him nab a big gray squirrel off the top of a feeder – but I think it was too heavy for him, and he dropped it. His favorite hunting spot is our old Christmas tree that we threw down near one of the feeders – he stalks around and around it, poking his head into the branches at regular intervals.
This year we had the privilege of watching a downey woodpecker work all day to enlarge a hole in what’s left of a dead tree, eventually crawling inside, where she spent several hours flinging wood chips out the hole from the inside. (We insisted that the tree guys leave at least 8 feet of the tree when they took it down – short enough to not hit the house when it eventually falls, but tall enough to still provide insects to eat and nesting sites for the woodpeckers.)
We have a couple of small fish ponds, and have had a pair of nesting mallards raise a family there for the last 3 years – a decidedly mixed blessing, since I miss the frogs, toads, and tadpoles that we used to have! The male was back 2 weeks ago, walking around on the ice.
I don’t see much aggression to speak of, although it seems that every species has it’s own mealtime – flocks of cardinals come together, and then they disappear for most of the day; the mourning doves arrive in flocks late afternoon, and then they’re gone; bluejays also tend to arrive in the late afternoon, and are not around the rest of the day.
The cardinals act more and more aggressive toward each other – but I suspect that is Spring-time territorialism rather than a food fight.
On more than one occasion I DID see the pileated woodpecker “defend” the suet feeder from a red squirrel, spreading both his wings to cover the feeder, and lashing out at the squirrel with his beak.
Dorothy,
Thanks for telling us about all these cool bird behaviors! Really great that you left up the base of the tree for the woodpecker, it’s so important to help them by leaving up snags and such.
Crazy that the Cooper’s took the squirrel. I’ve also seen them try for squirrels, but the ones I saw at least pulled up early, clearly not sure it was such a good idea.
Let me know if you have any questions about how to submit these interactions directly. You can reach me at feederwatch.interactions@gmail.com
Eliot
That must have been amazing to see that Pileated do that display. I’ve never had the opportunity to see that. Neat!
I recently seen a nuthatch that climbed up the side of my wooden fence! I’ve seen him eating suet before but never LITERALLY walk up the side of my wooden fence, it was quite incredible to see.
We have a pr of mallards that often come to our lake. They often walk up to the feeder by the house especially the female. She will come up when she sees me outside putting out some kernels of corn. Last week she was waiting for me to put out the corn and was standing about 12 ft from me. The male was sitting down by the water. All of a sudden I saw a large bird dive down towards the female and the male ran to the water and the female ran after him. I have to assume it was some type of hawk, it had white underside and didn’t look much larger than the mallard. I’ve found robin feathers on the other side of the house and that was likely a hawk too.
Wowee! That’s crazy. Glad the hawk didn’t fly off with your female duck. If you do see any predation events though, you should tell us about them directly. Let me know if you have any questions about how to submit these interactions directly. You can reach me at feederwatch.interactions@gmail.com
Eliot
I saw a hawk killing predating scores of chickadees at a feeder on a backyard tree. These tiny birds had no idea they were being eaten;. This was 15 years ago, I never see chickadees any more, NYC area.
On February 1, on my Feederwatch count day, my husband and I saw a Sharp-Shinned Hawk speed by our house and feederwatch area catching a Slate colored Junco under my feeders. I didn’t know it was a junco until I examined the feathers left behind when he ate the bird in the field across from our house. I live out in the country on 8 1/2 acres of hilly woodland in SW Wisconsin, Ocooch Mountains. I have other hawks, Red tailed, and owls, Barred and Great-horned, nearby but the Sharp-shinned is the one I see regularly around my feeders. I didn’t have any hawks eating my feeder birds until last year. This hawk has been around for two years now and this is the second junco they have caught that we have actually seen. As you can see from my feederwatch report I get lots of birds eating around my home. It’s an old one room school house. Cats are a big problem from the local farm but my dogs usually keep them away from the birds.
I did report this on your intervention form. It was a little clumsy to figure out how to work it. I’m looking forward to helping more next year Feederwatch. Good luck with your research. Kristine
Kristine,
Wow, great detective work. Thanks for providing the added details here. That’s really interesting that the Sharp-shinned seems to have found your feeder this second year.
It sounds beautiful where you live. Such a treat to have so many nice birds around!
Thanks for submitting the data directly! Sorry, the site is admittedly still a bit clunky. Hopefully we can make some improvements over this off-season!
Eliot
I have downy woodpeckers feeding at my hummingbird feeder this year have never seen this before. Is this a common practice for them.
Three weeks ago, found a couple of large feathers near my feeder – type unknown. Since then, no red-bellied or hairy woodpeckers have been seen. Also, the birds that hog the feeder such as house finches, goldfinches and house sparrows have become scarce as well. As a result, we’re getting many more chickadees, titmice, white-bellied nuthatches and downy woodpeckers all day long, plus a cardinal or two, a bluejay or two and now, juncos. I also got a huge raven this summer – the first ever for me in SW CT – and fed him some leftover chicken. He left that day. Most unusual birds? a black-throated blue warbler last October. Hung around for two days then continued south. Spring – a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks two years in a row.
How.. can one tell ALL OF YOU.. MANY THANKS,, THE FACT THAT YOU SIMPLY WRITE .. MEANS SO MUCH.. THE FACT.. THAT YOU SAY.. AND INTERPRET.. WHAT BIRDS.. CLEARLY.. ARE ABLE OR NOT..
tO.. SIMPLY AIR,, AND SPEAK ABOUT.. WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED, OBSERVED AND NOT QUITE,, FILTERED.. INDICATED TO ME.. MORE THAN.. can be said,,
i, SIMPLY SAY.. THANK YOU FOR SHARING.. AND JUST LETTING ALL OF US ,, ALL OVER..
IT, IS YOUR VOICE,, THAT DOES INDEED CARRY THE SONG!
AND.. IT IS YOURS.. THAT CARRIES THE HIGHEST OF TUNES.. CARRY ON..
Sadly, I have Blue Jays that are killing my finches. they literally pluck them off the feeder. I have seen them do this to three different finches.
i have a palm warbler eating peanuts at my feeder
I have 8 feeders and just started about 9 months ago. I get American Goldfinch (100’s migrated here?), House Finch (many), Norther Cardinal (like 12 which live somewhere in the woods in the back of my house), Blue jay (a few who seem to come only when danger is near…like a cat or hawk), Mourning Dove (handful), Northern Mockingbird (saw a couple), Yellow Crowned Night-Heron (like 4), Carolina Chickadee (many), Cowbird (2) and last but not least some kind of Hawk (many flying high circling). November, December and January was really busy for me as I had to replenish the feeders every singe day ($$$$) for a good 3 week stretch. I clean them twice a week (8 feeders). The feeding frenzy for that period came mostly from the American Goldfinch eating the heck out of the black oil sunflower seed. Whatever drops, the squirrels and doves eat. Anyways, i now see these hawks coming in my yard sitting on my birdbath next to the feeders. I also now see a few hawk chases on the weekend trying to snag a bird. By law remember, you can’t do anything to chase them away in an aggressive manner since they must survive as well. What I do is just simply see them, and casually walk to the back yard and they simply fly away. But i have seen at least 4 dead American Goldfinch in my backyard which I buried close to the house since they seem to be part of the family to me. Anyways, I live in Houston Texas and love all birds even the hawk as I know they also must survive.
I had a bird to come to my feeder this am. It was bright yellow w/ black head and tail feathers It kept throwing out seeds from the feeder. I live in Lake City, Fl. I would like to know what kind of bird it might be. Thank you …… Mary Wilson
I live in Lake City, Fl . a yellow bird with black head and black tail feathers. Do you have any idea what it could have been , It kept throwing out the seeds from the feeder.
We live in the Pocono Mountains in PA. We put up 2 feeders & the birds emptied them in just 2 days! We’ve got Collard doves- 2 of them that eat off the ground. The feeders show about 15 yellow-small- finches I believe. When a black- blue- grey bird comes w a longer beak- they rule. We’ve got black & orange small beaut Ful birds too. These are a bit larger than yellow finch. 2huge turkeys came today- doves flew off. All the birds are in tree tops very noisy as turkeys eat under the feeder. Turkeys left less than 5 min. There’s a loose rooster 20’ from my window & feeders. As he crows I answer. He & I go back & forth for up to 15 min a day- @5x a day., wonder if he thinks I’m a rooster. Interesting- birds go from eating all day to periodic breaks to the lovely bird bath we have. Here’s something else my sons & I have done. We’ve got barn owls & snowy white owl too. We hear them in distance. We’ve taken to bringing out our computer on porch & playing an owl screech. Over & over we play it. Closer & closer we bring the owls to us. Eventually w patience an 45 min of time- the owl is sitting right in our large pine tree- we see him in evening sky. We’ve brought about 3 diff species of owl- it’s amazing!! It works. My young teenage sons at the time, loved to do this. Are owls looking fir a mate for life? Very interesting- currently there’s approx 8 yellow birds at feeder w 6 on fence waiting. They do squabble & fight in mid air sometimes.
We live in northeast ohio and have been religiously keeping our feeder full. Its interesting to observe that the first birds to return are male cardinals and male bluebirds. We get all kinds that follow. Doves,, robins and ?
@Mary Wilson, sounds like that would be an American GoldFinch.
Last year 2017 around this time of year (Nov-Dec.) we had a lot of birds all kinds from finches to crows even squirrels. Now this year it keep dropping off .It’s Dec. and we do have squirrels and crows maybe a blue jay or two both nothing else. I have a squirrel dish and and large feeder . no birds but I do leave out a dish for the crows .and again no small birds.I don’t even see my bunnies this year. I saw maybe 2-4 cooper hawks all year but right now not even them around. It looks like they just disappeared from this area.
I have several mourning doves eating under my feeder, I have this one dove that eats and then backs up, turns around a few times and then falls off the porch and then gets back up and looks like it’s trying to bite the other doves.
Is some sort of mating ritual?
We would be very interested to know
Thank-you Joyce
Ive had two birds at my feeders at least the last week. One is larger than the other and contantly churping and ruffling his feathers. The smaller bird brings the bird sed and feeds the seed to the larger bird evn tho the larger bird is sitting on the feeder. When the smaller bird flys away the larger bird follows and lands right next to the smaller bird. Why would they do this?
Hi, It sounds like you might be looking at a cowbird chick. Brown-headed Cowbird adults lay eggs in other species nests, and the host species incubated the cowbird egg along with its own and raises the “adoptee”. Often, once the chick fledges, the adult bird is much smaller and it can certainly look odd when the adult is feeding the cowbird. If the larger bird you have at your feeder sis a dull gray-ish brown color, it’s likely a cowbird chick. You can learn more about this native species here.
Hi, I have so many birds coming to my feeders. Most times there are 12-24 of them and they feed it seems pretty much throughout the day. I’m concerned that they are not eating natural sources of food and are quite dependent on me. Is that the case? They are mostly finches. Should I not put food out for a day or so every once in awhile? Thanks for any clarification.
Hi Teresa, Birds can become accustomed to a reliable food source and will visit daily. However, birds search for food in many places, so if your feeder goes empty, most birds will easily find food elsewhere. Similarly, feeding birds does not delay migration at all. In fact, there have been several studies showing that populations of feeder birds are doing better than those of bird species that do not visit feeders.
This morning I had a Tufted Titmouse perched on the top of my feeding station after shooing away my Nuthatches. Almost as if he were stating, “I’m in charge here!”, and as I watched him, he made the same sound as a Chickadee. Is this possible?
Hi Theresa, Tufted Titmice calls are very similar to chickadees. You can listen to their “call” here.
After doing a little research, I found the following excerpt that indicates the Chickadee call given out by a Tufted Titmouse may be possible as some type of alarm call. In the case I heard and witnessed yesterday, it may just have been a warning, or a gloating, to the Nuthatches the Titmouse had just scared off my feeders? Maybe?
Alarm calls of tufted titmice convey information about predator size and threat
Jason R. Courter, Gary Ritchison
Behavioral Ecology, Volume 21, Issue 5, September-October 2010, Pages 936–942, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arq086
Published: 27 June 2010
excerpt:
Abstract
Many birds utter alarm calls when they encounter predators, and previous work has revealed that variation in the characteristics of the alarm, or “chick-a-dee,” calls of black-capped (Poecile atricapilla) and Carolina (P. carolinensis) chickadees conveys information about predator size and threat. Little is known, however, about possible information conveyed by the similar “chick-a-dee” alarm call of tufted titmice (Baeolophus bicolor).
We live in a suburban region in middle Georgia and love watching the variety of birds visiting our many bird feeders. However, this Spring, we’ve had a pair of Mallard ducks visiting from the nearby lake. Regrettably, I placed a feeding tray and a watering bin nearby, but separate from the feeders so we wouldn’t be stepping in their droppings when refilling the feeders. Now, it is mid-June and, even though we’ve witnessed several males chasing and forcibly mating with the poor female, she and her mate are spending most of their days in our yard, eating from the tray, bathing in the water bin or just lying around. Why isn’t she spending most of her days sitting on a nest or taking care of ducklings by now, and why is her mate still with her?? Should we remove the trays, stop feeding them and run them off?
Hi Mary, research has shown that providing food for birds does not disrupt their normal activities, such as migration or breeding. It’s far enough into the season for your location that she may have already tried a nest and it failed (either from environmental factors, predators, or being repeatedly run off by other males). It’s uncommon for Mallards to have more than one brood in a single breeding season, so she may simply be done for the year. Please feel free to contact our sister program, NestWatch (nestwatch@cornell.edu) for further questions about breeding birds.
I live next to a large expanse of forest, lots of birds on my feeder all day. They take small gravel and rocks, and somehow shingle grit, and place it inside the birdfeeder. Such a strange behavior. Maybe they feel a need to pay me back for the seed. They include cardinals, doves, goldfinch, and other normal songbirds.
What a joy I experienced this morning. I feed birds sunflower chips in feeders and on the ground and I feed crows a sort of variety foods. This morning while filling my feeders, the crows were about 8 feet away watching and waiting until I was farther away from their bowl of food and when I bent down to fill the feeder with sunflowers, a little bird landed on my head. Unfortunately it startled me and so didn’t stay there but did then come and land about two feet from me eating from the ground the pieces that scattered there while filling the feeder. Not afraid of me at all. I think perhaps it was fledgling and that is why it was so brave? It is interesting that the little birds I feed seem quite comfortable and actually seem to come and feed while I’m out around them, like they know I feed them and are somewhat trusting. They are a wonder to watch.
I just bought Droll Yankees recently, and it attracts a variety of wild finches such as the house finch, the purple finch, and the American goldfinch.
They enjoy eating upside-down and prefer sock, tube, and platform feeders. So, yes, thanks to Droll Yankees, I got the perfect one for my finch birds.
This is my 3rd winter at my house, and I decided to put up feeding bells on my clothes line this year. And I’m just beginning to observe the birds in my backyard, especially the red cardinals! They are always here, every day. I seem to be observing two pairs of cardinals, but never at the same time. But I once saw 2 males on the ground, pecking on the snow. What’s strange is that they didn’t seem to be fighting. The scene didn’t last long, but they seemed at one time jumping, one after the other, on the snow. Like as if they were playing? I’m a bit confused now…
Central NH here. Evening Grosbeaks and Rose Breasteds used to hang out all winter and raise broods who learned to eat at my feeders. Haven’t seen them in a couple years:(
Also, entertained 3 male Indigo Buntings at the feeders, meeting in mid air and falling together almost to the ground. Territorial behavior? Alas, couldn’t attract any females and so moved on. A huge Barred Owl hung around for a week at a time, just watching the feeders for birds AND squirrels. 4-5 times, at dusk/dark, he would fly and slam into my sliding door, going after my caged canary inside…scaring him AND me!!
Then he’d fly 10’ back to the feeder post and gather his whits!
My bedroom window overlooks the roof of my porch, so I put food out on the roof. I get mostly mourning doves and sparrows, and one thing I’ve long been curious about is why the doves don’t drive the sparrows away. They are so much bigger so I always expect them to dominate the feeding area, but they are almost completely tolerant of the sparrows. The doves fight each other constantly over food and mates, but they generally leave the sparrows alone. Mother sparrows can feed their babies in the middle of the food pile without fear while dozens of doves fight each other around them. It’s quite entertaining.
Birds all disappeared overnight. My various feeders were visited by Woodpeckers and nuthatches, a constant stream of juncos and titmice. Dairy visits from a couple of jays. And lately some doves. The past few days only a lone hummingbird has appeared. and One brave nuthatch at the suet feeder. The hummingbird feeder mysteriously empties overnight. Have we been visited by a hawk? or….. is there anything I can do?