Who is the toughest bird?
Everyone knows that doves are peaceful and jays are feisty… right? If you have ever watched birds interacting at your feeders you know that some species are likely to kick others off the feeding trays, and some species are likely to be kicked off. But are doves really peaceful and jays really feisty, or are we letting our imaginations influence what we see? The only way to find out is by collecting data. FeederWatchers rose to the challenge of collecting a totally new type of data—behavioral data—and opened the door to measuring species’ “personalities” on a continental scale.
FeederWatch participants have been gathering data on bird interactions. Blue Jay displaces Mourning Dove… check. Downy Woodpecker displaces Tufted Titmouse…. check. Chickadee displaces Hairy Woodpecker… no way! These conclusions may seem obvious, but it took over a thousand participants watching their feeders for tens of thousands of hours to collect enough data to verify these displacement patterns. Collecting the data is one thing, but making sense of it all is another. Thankfully, Postdoctoral Research Associate Eliot Miller at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology had the skills to do it. After sifting through 7,685 observations, Eliot had some answers. How do feeder birds relate to one another on a hierarchy of dominance? To put it simply, bigger is better.
Some surprises hidden in the data
Eliot organized observations between 136 species at over 1500 FeederWatch sites. He ranked each species based on how often it would displace other species and how often it would get displaced. Then he arranged all those species in their order of dominance, with the most dominant species at the top of the list, and the least dominant at the bottom (see diagram at right). What do you think was the highest ranking species? Believe it or not, the Wild Turkey came out on top. This may seem like a surprise—turkeys seem peaceful enough—but if you think about how often other birds displace turkeys, it starts to make sense; never! Turkeys are so large that there aren’t any other feeder-visiting species that can displace them; so not surprisingly, they don’t.
Who was at the bottom of the list? Another surprise: the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. This species is similar but not identical to its congener the House Sparrow, and apparently it is a lot more peaceful than you might expect. Eurasian Tree Sparrows were introduced into the St. Louis, Missouri, area in 1870 and have become establish in Illinois and parts of Iowa and Missouri, but they have not expanded their range very far. Perhaps their relatively peaceful personality contributes to this lack of expansion compared to more aggressive House Sparrows.
Placement on the dominance hierarchy is one thing, but which species are more or less aggressive than you would expect based on their body size alone? Eliot figured that out too. He mapped the dominance rank of each species on a phylogeny of all the species that interacted (see diagram at left) and statistically controlled for the mass of the birds. It turns out that doves, buntings, and grosbeaks are less dominant than we would expect based on their body size, whereas crows, jays, woodpeckers, and blackbirds are more dominant than we would expect based on their size. These findings mean our intuitions weren’t so far off: doves really are peaceful, and jays really are feisty. You can also view an interactive graphic showing the varied relationships between some species here.
Where do we go from here?
You might think that there are no more questions to answer, but this is just the beginning. One of the next questions that Eliot will tackle involves digging into some of the specific, subtle relationships between certain species. For instance, based on the data received to date, some trios of species appear to co-exist in a rock-paper-scissors arrangement. For example, European Starlings are dominant to Red-headed Woodpeckers, Red-headed Woodpeckers are dominant to Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers are dominant to European Starlings (see diagram at right). This rare non-linear hierarchy may help balance continental patterns of abundance. Each species competes with another for nest cavities, but no species is always the winner. Since Red-headed Woodpeckers are infrequently observed at feeders, we don’t have many observations for the species, so we need to collect more data on its interactions this coming season to verify these patterns.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to explore these fascinating behavioral data, and keep those data coming! Do you want to add your feeder observations to the project? Join Project FeederWatch and you can contribute too.
Research reported in: Fighting over food unites the birds of North America in a continental dominance hierarchy. 2017. E. T. Miller, D. N. Bonter, C. Eldermire, B. G. Freeman, E. I. Greig, L. J. Harmon, C. Lisle, W. M. Hochachka. Behavioral Ecology. doi:10.1093/beheco/arx108. Abstract.
Cutout bird photo credits: Blue Jay by Joe Martin, Eurasian Tree Sparrow by Marge Fonner, Common Grackle by Cheryl Fagner, Mourning Dove by Susan Szeszol, Red-bellied Woodpecker by Barbara Houlihan, European Starling by Ed Hass, Red-headed Woodpecker, Wild Turkey, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak by Joan Wiitanen.
142 comments on “Who is the toughest bird?”
Very interesting article on the behavioral data, especially the relationship between the RHW, RBW and ES.
Looking forward to see what other relationships arise when you start digging into all the details of the data.
Congratulations to all the authors.
Thanks Gary! Yes, the more we explore the data, the more interesting things we find. There’s a lot more to come from this.
Gary,
I concur with your report. I do have 10 years of data regarding RHW interactions with starlings. Daniel
Where I am we feed at work. Mid.Penna. We have the sparrows, an occasional House finch, doves, a few Jays,
European starlings and in the summer Red winged Blackbirds. They all move for Red Winged Blackbirds. Even the much larger crows and Red Tailed Hawks get chased by these black beasties.
This is really interesting! Do you have a better list or graphic that shows more relationships between birds of who displaces who?? I’d love to know who wins between Cardinal and Blue Jay for example. Or House Finch vs House Sparrow?
At our feeder, the Blue Jay wins over our Cardinals EVERY time. They will dive at the feeders in packs of two to four birds at a time to drive out any other bird interested in a free meal.
Indeed, according to the data submitted by participants to date, Blue Jays have chased off Cardinals 118 times, vs. 8 incidents of the opposite interaction!
How about blue jays vs magpies and chickadee vs house sparrow. That’s what i want to know.
Bluebird vs robin. Purple martin vs barn swallow
I see the cardinals, surprisingly, chase off blue Jays for peanuts in my small sampling. This has happened repeatedly.
I’ve lived in New York State & now in Florida. I can testify that blue jays definitely do not always win. In fact I’ve seen timed where 3, 4 or more Cardinals fly in and attack and drive the jays away! Cardinals can get fiesty when they need to!
At our RI feeder, the cardinals once in a while drive off the blue jays. The other visitors vary as to dominance.
Thanks. Blue Jays won 94% of reported interactions between the two species. House Sparrow won 114 interactions against House Finch, vs. 20 interactions in the opposite direction (i.e. House Sparrow won 85% of the time). Better graphics are on their way, we hope. It’s hard to show so many interactions though–a real visualization challenge!
I once had a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird sit at the top of my feeding station (shepard’s hook) with 4 different feeders of Nijer, suet cake, cracked sunflower and regular feed and keep all comers at bay. He left the hook periodically to chase some birds away but came back to roost. My hummer feeder wasn’t even hanging there.
Is there a better list or graphic that shows more relationships between birds of who displaces who? Thanks!
At my feeder, the Blue Jays are regularly displaced by the Cardinals, but only because I have “Gangs of My Backyard” amounts of Cardinals! They congregate in groups of 10-20 on any given day, so there’s probably also something to be said for group size in addition to body size for determining success or failure of displacement.
Same at my feeders. The lone bluejay tried to get smart with one female cardinal who drove him off twice. The third time he came back, she had seven reinforcements. No more problems from him!
I’d love to see a picture of that!
There are better graphics on the way!
I have been living out amongst the birds on my property for the past two years (long story…but I’m healing from some traumatic life events) anyhow…this rare opportunity has afforded me a rare opportunity to have a “birds eye view” into their world and the scientist in me cannot get enough! Everyday/all day…and I feel as though I’ve been accepted as one of the mixed flock members. This past winter (here in WI) I had a red breasted nuthatch visit me every day for several months. He would buzz the side of my drivers side window until I wound it down and feed him from my hand. I could call him and suddenly he would appear from the woods. So unbelievably fascinating!! So yeah I’ve got a lot to share in the area of “feeder dominance hierarchies” if you’re interested. Happy Birding!!
Pete
We often find great variations in the dominant and aggressive behavior within the same species – variations in personality as it were. Does the data suggest this is the case for some species of birds?
Interesting question! But one that we can’t address with the current data. However, other research has suggested that this is definitely the case. Things like chickadees, for instance, have well documented social hierarchies with important consequences for who gets what food and breeds where.
Thank you for this interesting data analysis. I am interested in knowing if you found significant seasonal variation in your study. For example did the intra species and inter species interactions vary during breeding and non-breeding seasons. I would be curious if there might be more tolerance at the feeders during the winter months (in the north). Non scientifically it seems my feeders are populated by a variety birds at the same time in the fall and winter; spring less so; and summer is when I observe the most “fights”.
Thank you for this interesting data analysis. I am interested in knowing if you found significant seasonal variation in your study. For example did the intra species and inter species interactions vary during breeding and non-breeding seasons. I would be curious if there might be more tolerance at the feeders during the winter months (in the north). Non scientifically it seems my feeders are populated by a variety birds at the same time in the fall and winter; spring less so; and summer is when I observe the most “fights”.
I have been feeding birds for 30 years or more. I see a pecking order among cardinals. I guess that it’s
territorial. The male and its mate own the territory and the birds that are from another area are pushed aside.
I usually have a dozen or more at my feeding station. Thanks for you work and dedication.
I’ve noticed the same thing among cardinals. We have a lot of different birds feeding here in the Atlanta area. It always amazes me to see them flying straight up and going at each other – usually the same species.
I feed birds year round and enjoy watching their inner actions
A yellow rumped warbler guarded our feeder ferociously, chasing off and buzzing all birds of similar or smaller size! Most territorial species we have seen.
Same here – when the Yellow Rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler) arrives here for the Winter – one will basically chase off all the other birds.
I agree on the Butter Butts. They are fierce. They will drive off species twice their size. I had one bird three years ago who would drive away Red Belly Woodpeckers from his favorite suet feeder. Ounce for ounce, they are tough!
Indeed, warblers in general are notably dominant for their small size. Yellow-rumped are a great example of this.
Although not a feeder bird – and not listed in your dominance hierarchy – American redstarts have provided some of the most entertaining interaction I’ve observed at our feeders in our yard in lower Upstate NY. From spring to fall they are a common visitor foraging for insects in the bushes and maples that border the yard, and they will sometimes splash around in the birdbath near the feeders. On several occasions I’ve seen redstarts zip around the bird feeders chasing goldfinches away from the nyjer seed and literally flying circles around bewildered cardinals. Despite their small size, the redstart’s speed and energy sends just about any bird in it’s path rushing for cover. As part of the assault the redstart will land on a feeder or tree limb momentarily and fan it’s tail and wings in what appears to be an attempt to startle the feeder birds. Each time I’ve seen this – and the flapping, fluttering chaos that results – it strikes me that the redstart is doing it for sheer fun and simply because he can.
As I am on Vancouver Island, Canada, most of the birds you mention are not here, but the mention of this bird being dominant is interesting. Does anyone know if birds with yellow on them tend to be dominant? Pine siskins are a very feisty bird, inclined to squabble, and when they flash the yellow on their wings as a threat gesture, most other birds give way. Goldfinches aren’t particularly aggressive, but seldom give way unless forced to by the sheer size of another bird, and most birds don’t challenge them.
We have a paper in the works looking at how bird’s plumage color influences the outcome of these interactions! Very very preliminarily it seems like we might be finding evidence of what you’re mentioning, but we need to do a lot of analysis to confirm. It’s a subtle effect if it exists.
I have aggresssive YRWs at my feeder, too–they chase off lesser goldfinches, especially, and hog the feeder.
For the last 2 yrs., we have been placing shell-in, roasted, non-salted peanuts in a shallow 12” bowl with an approximately 2” high rim situated on the railing of our deck. We have other feeders but the advantage of the peanuts is they only attract a few bird species (cardinals, blue-jays, WB nuthatches, tufted titmice, grackles (when they are “in-town), RB woodpeckers). The peanut feeder is opposite our kitchen window so it is easy to monitor “who” is visiting as well as visitor interactions. Relative to Scott’s question- our observations are that cardinals vs blue jays- it is a draw. If a male cardinal is on the rim of the feeder and a blue jay lands opposite the male cardinal often goes into a threat posture- lowers body to a horizontal, fluffs wings out slightly and has open beak- kinda looks like an angry cat – and “glares” at the blue jay who, in-turn, “glares” at the cardinal. This lasts for 10-20 seconds when one or the other withdraws and flies off. We have two pair of cardinals and and 5-7 blue jay regulars. We have not been able to identify all of the blue jays but the one(s) that are cardinal intimidated may be the subordinates in blue jay society. If two or more jays land the male cardinal always leaves. Titmice always leave no matter “who” lands and RB woodpeckers care not “who” is on feeder- they want a peanut, they get a peanut
How on earth do you keep the squirrels out of your peanut bowl? We had at least 5 pairs of cardinals at our feeder and two pairs seemed dominant. When the hatchlings arrived it was the young ones who were least until they were a couple of weeks old.
Really interesting observations! I’d love to know if it’s true that Blue Jays that are subordinates in their own groups might be more liable to be displaced by cardinals.
I totally agree with Bill about this. It seems that the Cardinals will switch between aggressiveness at my feeder to passiveness. I’ve also notice that if a breeding couple shows up no matter which species they tend to dominate over other birds including larger ones.
As for the Mourning Doves they are not the timid birds ever one says they are. On the ground they bully everyone else including the Cardinals and I’ve watched them push out squirrels and Grackles, very aggressively.
As for the Grackles they are the ones who tend to dominate the most over other birds using their size and numbers to take over the peanut and sunflower feeders. However when another species of comparable size is tired of waiting they will push out the Grackles for a short time. The Red bellied Woodpecker will wait till he decides its his turn and then just as Bill says he goes and takes a peanut and that’s that.
I get so much enjoyment from watch them all.
Agree that doves are not so timid. It seems they have a smaller personal space to guard but when any bird enters it the other birds move away. Jays have a large personal space to defend but avoid landing near doves.
Nobody much wants to mess with a Red-bellied at our feeder. They have attitude, and a nail gun mounted on their face. We’ve noticed the same with smaller birds and the Downy. The only other song birds we’ve seen distrub the RB is a group of Starlings and to a lesser degree a group of Blue Jays.
Those Red-bellied sure can dominate a feeder! Stay tuned for a new paper about aggression between Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers.
Your report has definitely inspired me to watch for and log interactions for this Feeder Watch season! I look forward to more details as they become available!
Fantastic! There will be more details in due course, working on additional studies using the data now! And of course, more data makes these study conclusions stronger–glad to hear you’ll log interactions this season!
Our feeders are COMPLETELY dominated by the Red-bellied Woodpeckers……….they shoo away the Jays, the Warblers, the Finches, Titmouse, and Painted Buntings. The poor Doves are regulated to the ground to pick up scraps that may fall, but even then, they have to worry about the squirrels driving them away, too. By the way, why is the Red-bellied Woodpecker so named, seeing as it doesn’t even have a red belly?.
If you scratch under his buff breast feathers you discover a bright red “undercoat”.
The behaviors you described sound just like what we’ve seen reported. I agree Red-bellied’s red belly is not particularly obvious, but it does actually have a red blush on its lower belly. Look closely at photos, you should see it on some. Pretty subtle though, I agree.
I also would like to see the full list of dominance order. The graphic says 136 species, but what we see only shows 4. Is that available from Feeder Watch?
On my northwestern feeders, the dominance battles are mostly between different finches, goldfinches, house and siskins. Haven’t had siskins in a while, but they were fierce. Goldfinches win over house finches most of the time.
Big feeder birds here are Flickers and Stellar’s Jays; they each win over everyone, but sometimes the Flickers allow smaller birds to stay on the tray feeder with them, the Jays, never. Jays win over Flickers, but mostly they wait until feeder is clear of them. A lot of fights recently between Juncos, no clue about why the winners are dominant.
Hi Kathryn, you can see the full hierarchy results here: https://feederwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/supplementaryRankTable.csv. This table will open in a program such as Microsoft Excel. If you sort by the column “Bradley Terry Rank” it’ll give you the answers. They look like what I have pasted below here. Keep in mind that species’ exact positions might change slightly as we receive more data. Since we have somewhat less data from out West, those are the species most likely to change in the future. If you see something you think is wrong, the best way to “fix” it is by sending us your observations of what you see!
Wild Turkey
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Northwestern Crow
Herring Gull
Common Raven
Western Bluebird
Mallard
Audubon’s Oriole
Great-tailed Grackle
California Quail
Northern Shrike
Boat-tailed Grackle
Acorn Woodpecker
American Crow
Rock Pigeon
Ruffed Grouse
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Rosy-faced Lovebird
Hooded Oriole
Black Phoebe
Red Crossbill
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
Green-winged Teal
Green Jay
Wood Duck
Rufous Hummingbird
Gilded Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Gambel’s Quail
Black-billed Magpie
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Common Grackle
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Band-tailed Pigeon
Red-headed Woodpecker
Eurasian Collared-Dove
European Starling
Brown Thrasher
California Scrub-Jay
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Hairy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Red-winged Blackbird
Canyon Towhee
Abert’s Towhee
Varied Thrush
Steller’s Jay
Ring-necked Pheasant
American Robin
Mourning Dove
Gila Woodpecker
Western Tanager
Fox Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Spotted Towhee
Cedar Waxwing
Palm Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Evening Grosbeak
Gray Catbird
California Thrasher
California Towhee
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Downy Woodpecker
White-winged Dove
Eastern Bluebird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Harris’s Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
House Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Pine Grosbeak
Black-crested Titmouse
Cassin’s Finch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Oak Titmouse
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Tufted Titmouse
Field Sparrow
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Eastern Phoebe
Hermit Thrush
House Finch
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Pine Warbler
Pine Siskin
Purple Finch
Orange-crowned Warbler
American Tree Sparrow
Common Redpoll
Pygmy Nuthatch
American Goldfinch
Chipping Sparrow
Allen’s Hummingbird
Bewick’s Wren
Black-capped Chickadee
Lesser Goldfinch
Carolina Chickadee
Townsend’s Warbler
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Anna’s Hummingbird
Mountain Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Long-billed Thrasher
Pinyon Jay
White-headed Woodpecker
Snow Bunting
Gray Jay
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Rufous-backed Robin
Painted Bunting
Townsend’s Solitaire
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Swamp Sparrow
Lapland Longspur
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Boreal Chickadee
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Brown Creeper
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
We’ve had plenty of birds visit in SC until a Mocking Bird moved in. We have Blue Jays and Cardinals but they don’t visit the feeder. The Mocker just sits on the brick wall and shoos any bird out. We don’t have anything he’d like to eat so why he hangs at our place I don’t know.
I’m selecting the feeder birds from your list. Thanks!
I have noticed that the chickadees and titmice take advantage of fights between other birds at the feeders. While everyone is fussing, they just fly under and between and around the commotion, grab a seed, and fly to a nearby tree. They keep returning and repeat this behavior as conditions allow.
I have not been able to participate in PFW due to my work schedule, but the observations in the study are consistent with my own. The Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Flickers regularly stand up to the Starlings on the suet feeders and the Red-winged Black Birds are always tough customers. Two years ago I watched a juvenile Red-wing BB kill a mature male Cardinal. The Cardinal was disabled in the initial scuffle and the RWBB dispatched it with several repeated pecks to the back of the Cardinal’s head as it lay on the ground. Life on the feeders is indeed tough.
That’s a crazy observation, thanks for sharing!
At our feeders in south-western British Columbia, Pine Siskins are easily the pound-for-pound champs. While much larger birds like Red-winged Blackbirds may drive them off they stand up to, and usually dominate, anything close to their own size.
That’s a really neat observation. A lot of people in the comments here are telling us that Pine Siskins are really dominant. We have fewer observations in the dataset of them than I’d like, since they tend to stay North. However, but they do come out as dominant in the hierarchy to American and Lesser Goldfinches, so we must have enough data to at least corroborate what you’re saying!
I guess kingbirds don’t go to feeders.
I’ve been amazed by the ferocious behavior of tiny Pine Siskins. They strike angry poses, threaten with their wings unfurled, and aggressively peck just about any other bird. They go after Pygmy Nuthatches, Juncos, Downy Woodpeckers, Mountain Chickadees. Only the Steller’s Jays seem to be unaffected.
I just wrote this above to someone else, it applies here too:
A lot of people in the comments here are telling us that Pine Siskins are really dominant. We have fewer observations in the dataset of them than I’d like, since they tend to stay North. However, but they do come out as dominant in the hierarchy to American and Lesser Goldfinches, so we must have enough data to at least corroborate what you’re saying!
I have not had evening grosbeaks at my feeders for over 15 yrs but back when I did, I thought they won “toughest birds at the feeder”. I never saw them try to chase another bird away from the feeder. They were not the aggressors. But when the grosbeaks were at the feeder no other birds were ever able to chase them away. They stood their ground.
They sure are way up there in the hierarchy. Above Pine Grosbeak, which often look bulkier to me (but I think Evening tends to weigh more). I wouldn’t want to get bit by either of those, particularly Evening.
I get several different species, but I’m going to say the Carolina Chickadee is the toughest. Yes, it gets displace by most new birds flying in, but where a dominant bird comes in and the others wait for it to leave, the chickadees jump right back in there when the new bird turns it’s back. I’ve also seen them run off much bigger birds by flying at them and flapping at them. They’re tenacious and I’ve seen them run off birds from my feeder more than any other species.
Red-breasted Nuthatches are very feisty. I seen one dive bombing a Blue Jay at my bird feeders!
It’s true, they are feisty! Ounce for ounce, I think Red-breasted is more aggressive than White-breasted (though I’d need to double-check).
We have Acorn Woodpeckers in our yard and they definitely take charge. We see dominance at our bird bath too. A couple of weeks ago, a red tailed hawk was taking a bath and it got buzzed by an Anna’s hummingbird! We have to get a bigger bird bath.
I have seen morning dove (s) occasionally force CA scrub jays from a feeder.
This is wonderfully interesting. We live in the Pacific Northwest and have a variety of species year round. There isn’t any mention of hummingbirds (maybe too obvious) but we’ve seen Anna’s chase away dark-eyed juncos and song sparrows from branches near their feeders. We’ve also seen one chase away a Stellar’s jay from the general area of hummingbird feeders. There are epic battles between the Rufous and Anna’s in the spring. We’ve found Eurasian collared doves driving away mourning doves and a Hairy woodpecker drving away a jay. Thanks for lots more things to look for during the Feederwatch season.
Some great observations here! We are in the process of building up observations of interactions with hummingbirds, but they certainly are very tenacious for their size! The difficulty, of course, with building up enough interactions is that most of the hummingbirds are gone for most of the FeederWatch season. So far, we are hearing that Rufous is dominant to Anna’s, but it seems like their fights are far from a foregone conclusion.
On our feeder Pileated woodpeckers dominate the Northern Flicker and both boot out the Steller Jays. Squirrels win out over everybody.
Courtenay, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
We put out peanuts for the neighborhood squirrels, and of course, the Scrub Jays eat quite a few of them. Both are quite polite, taking turns and even waiting while the other one selects just the right peanut. (Scrub Jays are quite fussy). We also have a variety of birds that feed themselves via the plants and grass in the yard. Those are truly interesting; we have a couple of Mockingbirds that rule the yard, sitting on the highest wire where they can survey everything. Then there are the normal sparrows, flocks of renegade parrots, crows, ravens and one lovely Flycatcher. And one big red-tailed hawk. Of them all, the mockingbirds rule it. And the Ravens are enough to drive off the hawk. So fun to watch them all.
So jealous!
Under our feeders [on the ground] the creature that dominates is the chipmunk. They will charge in and flush anyone there. I’ve seen them make turkeys hop up out of the way.
At the feeder the RBW is THE dominant. He and she will stare down all comers until the Cooper’s hawk shows up and then everyone is gone. Mourning Doves never seem to get the word and small patches of their feathers on the ground will testify to that.
Cardinals are easily chased off when sparrows mob the feeder. House Finches do not allow sparrows to shoo them and are quite feisty driving them off.
We have been analyzing the predation data we received the last few seasons, and as you suggest, Cooper’s Hawks LOVE to go after Mourning Doves.
Interesting. What I’ve observed on my “bird shelf” outside my bedroom window is that doves can be very bullying with each other and smaller birds. I haven’t quite been able to figure out the dynamics between the doves, but some can be quite nasty some others. All the other observations ring true. If you’ve seen the beaks of some of these woodpeckers up close, who would mess with them?!
I wonder if some of this could be due to the fact that on the platform doves can “belly up” to the species they interact with, giving them a bit of an advantage? We haven’t analyzed these things at different styles of feeders yet, I suspect there are some additional things to learn!
I agree about bully mourning doves—they’re larger because they get to feed longer, until a brave youngster challenges it. I wish I could scare off the bully, singularly!
Several times,a Mourning Dove, trying to horn in on a Red-wing Blackbird’s dinner, (tired of the constant harassment,) the Red-wing latched on to the doves tail and around the tree trunk they both went.
When there is only sunflower seed, the Blue Jay is the only bird to displace our yellow-bellied sapsucker. When there is suet, nothing displaces the sapsucker. Glad to add another variable to your enormous task!
Really neat! The sapsucker came out as really high in the hierarchy. Since I personally haven’t seen them interact aggressively to other species before, I was surprised. Neat to hear this jibes with your observations too. As I just wrote to someone above, we haven’t analyzed these things at different styles of feeders yet, and I suspect there are some additional things to learn!
I have a well established pair of feeders (approx. 25 years) and I find that the Grackles are the toughest birds – I have interrupted several murders of smaller birds including mostly sparrows perpetrated by Grackles and have found the bodies of several I was not around to stop. The only bird not impressed by the Grackles are the Red-bellied Woodpeckers but they seem to avoid each other most of the time. I also have a large number of hawks around all winter and they unfortunately dine on morning doves and pigeons that frequent the feeders. The hawks include Red Tails both mature and immature and it is amazing how the squirrels can tell the difference – they actually get up close to the immature hawks who seem dumfounded as to what to do about it !
We are analyzing the predation data now, and the hawks do indeed LOVE to go after doves.
We’ve experienced a Blue Jay that has developed a screech imitating a hawk. When he alights on a tree near the bird feeder and gives off the screech, ALL the birds feeding at the feeder fly away for cover and he/she peacefully comes in to a black oil sunflower feeder that is completely unoccupied.
At my feeders, believe it or not, the Blue Jays will back down when a Mourning Dove comes in. The doves will not back down when the Blue Jays try to chase them off. They puff up & march right at them until the Jays finally fly off.
The “triangular” dominance pattern may be more widespread across species than we realize. I’ve noticed this behavior among horses at feeding time – i.e., Horse A shoves Horse B off its food bucket in the pasture, and Horse B then shoves off Horse C…who then shoves off Horse A.
It’s also surprising what behaviors come out when food is scarce. A few years ago everything in our area bloomed/fruited out early so that food was scarce by late summer. Our normally docile Mourning Doves were dominating our tube feeder, and when one cheeky Brown-headed Cowbird fledgling was throwing its weight around it apparently chose the wrong sparring partner. The dove it confronted “bowed up” and challenged Cowbird right back as if to say, “Oh, you wanna rumble big boy?? Let’s go!” Cowbird quickly backed off and decided it had an errand to run…
This is great, I would have liked to have seen that!
I’m located in Edmonton, Canada, feeding sunflower seeds (already shelled) in a number of feeders in the back yard. No record keeping – just anecdotal. Mostly black-capped chickadees until the others breeds become aware. Chickadees are very polite and will stay clear if other birds around. Red breasted nuthatches are pretty feisty and will feed even if someone else is there. Once the sparrows and finches get here, they run the show, especially the finches are bold. They’ll sit in the feeder and not move until they’re done. One of the feeders is big enough for blue jay to get in; magpies can’t quite fit.
Sometimes we put in shell peanuts on the ground. Blue jays come early, sometimes the squirrel shoos them away, but magpies chase everyone off
I’m located in Edmonton, Canada, feeding sunflower seeds (already shelled) in a number of feeders in the back yard. No record keeping – just anecdotal. Mostly black-capped chickadees until the others breeds become aware. Chickadees are very polite and will stay clear if other birds around. Red breasted nuthatches are pretty feisty and will feed even if someone else is there. Once the sparrows and finches get here, they run the show, especially the finches are bold. They’ll sit in the feeder and not move until they’re done. One of the feeders is big enough for blue jay to get in; magpies can’t quite fit.
Sometimes we put in shell peanuts on the ground. Blue jays come early, sometimes the squirrel shoos them away, but magpies chase everyone off
Watching the bird feeders is a great past-time. Yes, we have turkeys (as many as 25) visit our bird seed feeder, as well as the suet feeders. But since all of those feeders are up high, the turkeys do just wander under all of those feeders and pickup what is underneath. All of the birds leave the feeders (and the squirrels down below), but there is one bird that ignores the arrival of the turkeys…the chickadees! In fact, I think they love having the turkeys arrive because it means that the rest of the bird population that visits our feeders disappear until the turkey leave.
So I would say that might does not all ways win out. And speaking of small over large birds, when the hummingbirds are here in Michigan the males, in guarding the hummer feeders, chase off all other birds sitting in the trees and bushes around our back yard. It is lots of laughs watching these tiny little birds (males and females) chase off all the birds much bigger than the hummers!
And a final word about blue jays in our back yard. Since our seed feeders have a weight closure that shuts when a large blue jay lands on the seed feeder, they do not have much interest but they do visit the bird bath. And sitting in waiting in the pine trees are robins, who will dive and attack the blue jays until they leave the area. Since blue jays eat the eggs and young of other birds, I suspect the robins are doing all of the other species of song birds in our yard a great “junk-yard dog” guard from the sneaky blue jays.
This is so interesting. I love sitting out on our deck and watching the birds at the feeders and just those pottering around the garden. This year we have had a pair of bluebirds who have had three clutches of three chicks. Mr Bluebird has probably been the most determined bird at the feeder when he was feeding his chicks and even before the chicks were hatched. He was even dive bombing the squirrels and believe me when I say he dive bombed them, he truly did!!!!
I definitely agree the Blue Jays are dominant over most of the other birds at the feeder but most of the birds will move for the Red Bellied Woodpecker. He squawks to announce his arrival and the feeder clears!!! The Downy Woodpecker tends to keep himself to himself and prefers the suet feeder.
The Cardinals are probably the most common bird in our garden. The Mourning Doves are completely non-confrontational and are happy to be on the ground and clear up any dropped seed.
Oh my word, I could talk about my birds all day long !! I even have a wren that nests in my door wreath and I make my son go out of the overhead garage door in the morning so that he doesn’t disturb the wren lol!!!
Julie, thanks so much for sharing all of this! I agree, Red-bellied Woodpeckers really have the run of things when they want to get rid of those jays. Neat to have a nesting wren by the door!
My husband and I find the male cardinal pretty much a coward in our neighborhood of birds. We call downy woodpecker: “Little Caesar” since he is so dominant. Our red belly woodpeckers are not as pushy as downy is. The sparrows seem to dominate the finches. The blue jays dominate everyone when they’re around. The juncos seem to be happy all around as well as our chickadees (though these know how to displace birds in a nanoo of a second.
Too bad this research just touched on bird feeders. I am amazed every summer when the relatively small scissor tails come to Arkansas and constantly vex and harass the relatively large crows. The crows stay around all year and get a break when the scissor tails leave.
We have every bird listed almost. No RHW. Our RBW is the boss. Over even the Blue Jays. During nesting season. Our HW’s are also very dominant. but the Male is always dominant to the female. The RBW do not seem to be so sex dominant, We feed plenty for all. We are very wild in location, have great cover and easy feeding stations to view.
What about hummingbirds!? They will chase off any other bird for even getting near one of their plants or feeders.
It’s true! We don’t have a lot of hummingbird data yet though, because most of the hummingbirds are gone for most of the FeederWatch season.
My wife has been putting out salt-free shell peanuts for two years for blue jays. The feeder hangs from a canvas gazebo on our deck. They come in from 5 different directions so I presume they are different clans and a pecking order is established so there are hardly any disputes. They come in one at a time from bushes, trees, and neighbors roofs. The fun come during mating season. We have two sets of mocking birds settled on the property and when they are nesting, a dominant mocking bird takes charge of the feeder and no jays are allowed. The mocking birds will come in and drive the jays away, sometime pursuing them off the property. These guys have learned to peck at the shells to get at the peanuts. Their antics are hilarious. Once the brood(s) are out of the nest, the mocking birds return to their normal life-style and leave the feeders alone.
Mockingbirds are no joke! http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2009/05/bird-knows-who-you-are
I believe numbers has a big part to play in this, a pack of Blue Jays or Black Birds showing up
intimidates all individuals already at the feeders. Have seen this with Evening Grosbeaks and Blue Jays, the
bigger gang takes ownership of the feeder.
Gary, this is almost certainly true! However, we restricted our observations to just be between single individuals. We haven’t yet tried to incorporate the complexity of multiple individuals interacting. But very likely it makes a huge difference. The group dominance of Bushtits comes to mind.
In upstate NY the RB Woodpeckers definitely are dominate – even over the Bluejays. The A Crows out-compete all however. But even the crows don’t stand a chance once my free range chickens saunter in under the feeders – no bird – except maybe W. Turkeys – stand in their way!
I had a RB at my feeder in Northern NY for the first time last winter, and he was extremely shy – deferred to everyone. Hope he comes back with a bit more confidence this winter.
This is a fascinating study.
At my house, the Red-Bellied Woodpecker ALWAYS wins, even over Blue Jays unless a mob of 5 or more of them takes over the platform. They lean forward on the platform (practically laying on their bellies) and use their beaks like spears to drive off any bully birds (it’s like watching a fencing match!); they don’t care if Cardinals, Titmice, Chickadees or Nuthatches are at the feeder and leave them alone. We also have a a particularly maniacal and aggressive Mourning Dove that can chase any bird of the platform, even starlings and grackles…the RB Woodpecker is the only one who can kick him off.
The cardinals at my feeder seem docile to all the smaller ones, or maybe being polite just sitting in tree nearby waiting their turn. Titmice, chickadees, are mostly ones that feed here. I put out suet cakes that keep woodpeckers away from sun flower seed feeder.
I recall the pine siskins that took over all the feeders even when I gave them their own thistle tube. They were numerous and aggressive. I took feeders down so they would leave 2-3 years ago, and they never returned! All is peaceful these days.
We don’t have a bird feeder in our backyard but we do have a bird bath fountain, which the birds love and attracts many different types of birds. We’ve only been living here in Monterey, CA for about 5 months and have already identified about 20 different birds which use the fountain. There is definitely a dominance hierarchy going on with the bird fountain. Any interest in starting a similar dominance hierarchy with fountain use similar to the bird feeder project?
What I find really interesting is the Rufous Hummingbird’s position on the ranking: in between Wood Duck and Gilded Flicker (!), and MORE “dominant” than such nearby-in-the-list species as Pileated Woodpecker or Black-billed Magpie (!!). I’ve seen them interacting with other birds; they’re fearless, pugnacious, and relentless. It would be so interesting if those who have Rufous Hummingbirds in their yard could ever capture video of these tiny birds driving off others so much larger and bulkier! Nature at its most amazing.
Marc, our models have trouble estimating the position of species with few observed interactions. Because there are so few Rufous Hummingbirds at feeders during the FeederWatch season, it’s very likely this exact position would change given more data. What I’m somewhat confident in is that it tends to be dominant to Anna’s, which is itself quite dominant for its size.
The “reply” box didn’t appear below the message I wanted to comment on; Rufous dominant to Anna’s Hummingbirds. The first rufous I ever saw was in pursuit of an Osprey, so I know they’re tough. While it’s true that they drive off–or attempt to–other hummers, I was surprised to see a juvenile “allowing” itself to be chased from a feeder by the resident female Anna’s on 1 Jul 17.
Have you attempted to differentiate between displacing and supplanting from participants’ behavioral reports?
Thanks for confirmation that Rufous is dominant to Anna’s! I was pretty sure about it, but we don’t have many reports yet on interactions between them. I’ve seen Rufous go after Bald Eagle before, so figured it was a tough cookie. No, we haven’t tried to distinguish subtle behaviors yet like you’re talking about. Just looking at overt aggression so far, who is most aggressive, who gets chased off, etc.
I’ve been feeding and watching birds for over twenty years . I think you have to have two categories , ground feeding and birds that feed on feeders. In my twenty-something year feeder watch I’ve recorded over forty different species , and here in the Pacific Northwest ,pound for pound the bird with the most moxie at my feeders is the Pine Siskins .All the rest are well behaved and take their turns at the feeders ,except the Starlings, which are very greedy for their size. Every bird has its own personality and size has its advantage . Humming birds are very aggressive with their feeders, chasing other hummers all the time . I don’t see that much aggressive behavior over food, the bigger the bird size the smaller ones just give way ,and wait for opportunity or land on the opposite side of the feeder. Squirrels are another matter,they take a back seat to no one.
Ground feeding birds just go about searching for a meal ,and again I don’t see any aggressiveness ,then again my birds are well fed . If you feed birds, the most important thing is never stop feeding during winter months.
One of my main concerns is the lack of Siskins at my feeders as well as other birds that pass though every year. I believe Global Warming is having an impact on our bird population . I’m seeing fewer and fewer birds , I hope we can turn the tide on this . It is killing not only birds but all animals around the globe .
It certainly is a bird-eat-bird world.
At my feeder, the Blue Jays are regularly displaced by the Cardinals, but only because I have “Gangs of My Backyard” amounts of Cardinals! They congregate in groups of 10-20 on any given day, so there’s probably also something to be said for group size in addition to body size for determining success or failure of displacement.
Mary, I just wrote this to someone’s post above. It’s relevant here too: this is almost certainly true! However, we restricted our observations to just be between single individuals. We haven’t yet tried to incorporate the complexity of multiple individuals interacting. But very likely it makes a huge difference. The group dominance of Bushtits comes to mind.
About 5 years ago during an irruption of pine siskins in North Dakota we would have quite a few at feeders in late fall and winter. Since the thistle feeder was close to house entrance door I noticed after a while they stopped flying away when I entered the house. So I took a lath and put seed on it. With outstretched arm it was about 6′ from my body. I gradually moved it closer to me over weeks and finally placed seed in my palm and they would feed out of my hand. They certainly are bold.
I saw a King Bird win a battle with 4 Blue Jays. Flashed its single red feather in each one face and beat each one off like a fighter pilot in a dog fight.
Saw another send a Black Crowned night heron on its way, pecking it on the back of its head as it tried to escape in haste.
They’re fierce! I once saw an Eastern Kingbird fly into the stratosphere chasing a circling Broad-winged Hawk, and I once saw a Tropical Kingbird land on the back of a flying Russet-backed Oropendola and pull some feathers out!
From my observations in the San Jose, CA area, there is nothing more aggressive ounce per ounce than the pine siskin. They walk upside down on the feeder and use their pointed beaks to smack the heads of birds who have established themselves at a feeding port. This always chases off the feeding bird even if it is considerably larger the the pine siskin.
Of course, Stellar’s jay and the California scrub jay always cause the other feeding birds to disperse, at least for awhile.
Wild Turkeys may be the dominant bird among ground feeding birds, but in my yard the gray squirrels readily take out a turkey.
Really interesting! I don’t know all this think about birds and now wondering how wild are dominating each other also. Appreciate the work you people done and wait for more info that you are digging.
Yesterday, 3/30/18, (a non-feeder watch day for us) our pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers gave up their just completed cavity (5-7 days’ work) to a single European Starling. One Red-bellied, alone at the time, attacked and mid-air wrestled/flailed while locked face to face with the Starling as together they dropped 30′ from the vicinity of the cavity to near ground level behind a stockade fence. The first time it immediately pursued the Starling back to the cavity for a second round just like the first, except the second time it only got up from behind the fence several long seconds after the Starling, and it returned to the cavity limb, but did not re-engage. Even when the second red-bellied returned, they just climbed around on the limbs near the cavity, acting as if nothing was wrong, without disturbing the Starling in the cavity. Within a few minutes they both left and haven’t returned. The Starling repeatedly carried wood chips out of the cavity and cleaned its beak on a very nearby branch. Eliot Miller: how many Red-bellied Woodpecker vs. European Starling conflicts are in your data? With less at stake our female Red-bellied WP earlier failed on two days to chase a male Brown-headed Cowbird from our platform feeder. The Cowbird ignored the open beaked hiss and lean towards it both times, and both birds continued to eat. Years ago in our yard two Baltimore Orioles with fledglings perched near ground level, 20′ from a Bluejay nest in a bush, totally dominated and team mugged the Bluejays any time they flew. This experience gave me high hopes for a team effort when the 2nd Red-bellied returned, but no such luck. I was unable to make out whether it was the male or female Red-bellied WP that initially fought. Today a second Starling joined the first.
Hi Jonathan,
Great observations!! Thanks for sharing. That’s unfortunate for the Red-bellied pair. So, what you’re talking about is something interesting to me. That is, some species pairs have fairly clear dominance hierarchies at the feeder, but the hierarchy can be reversed in different contexts. Red-bellied and Starling is one such example. As of mid-January (I don’t have more recent data onhand), Red-bellied had won 103 of 143 interactions between the two at feeders. However, if you have a look at this paper (https://sora.unm.edu/node/24683), you’ll see that at nests, Starlings are often able to usurp cavities from Red-bellieds (though infrequently from Red-headed). Why? Well, Starling clearly doesn’t always lose to Red-bellied, even at the feeders (they are the aggressor in about 28% of interactions)…and they can’t excavate their own cavity. So, if they want to nest, maybe their persistence, aggression, and fact that they “need” to win makes them frequently able to usurp Red-bellied nests. This is a very interesting “food for thought” research question that someone needs to look into more. Thanks again for sharing your observations!
I’d like to hear all your more of those number battles at the feeder
I just put up a new feeder and i’m waiting to see who the first visit is going to be from. Maybe a chickadee, or a house sparrow, goldfinch, or a cardinal
My feeder is a large tube feeder and i filled it with black oil sunflower seeds and i’m in the northeast region
I live in Montreal Canada. In the back of my house, there are three different types of birds: Robins, starlings and wrens. The starlings are extremely aggressive, noisy and territorial. The robins are docile and make beautiful sweet sounds. But the Robins are NOT scared of these starlings. The wrens, being very small, have no chance at all. I’ve seen flying battles between the robins and starlings, and the robins seem to win every time. I like this, because I love the robins. I intensely hate the starlings.
The Eurasian Collared Dove displaces both the Scrub Jay and the Steller’s Jay in my back yard. On several occasions I watched the Doves chase Jays around in the trees, eventually driving them away.
No question, we have much to learn about avian behavior.. My jay seems to be no problem, I have several, usually one at a time.. When a bird is hungry, usual protocol and size will be tossed out the window . I’d love to have a bird with balls enough to chase away a squirrel.. lol ..
Yesterday, or so, I had a really LARGE black bird visit for a second. It was ten? times the size of a grackle, similar otherwise .. A crow ? Such a very rare event .. Gotta luv those wild turkeys ..
What a great article! The feeder in our yard is dominated by Anna’s Hummingbird.. Im a massive fan of hummingbirds but I’d love to see a little tustle for feeder domination at some point 🙂 keep up the great work!
Congrats for writing such an interesting article. I want to know more about habitat of wood pecker? Thanks for perfectly covered the topic.
Hi James, We’re glad you enjoyed the article! You can learn more about the habitats of different woodpecker species at AllAboutBirds.org from this page. Each species page has a “Life history” tab. Let us know if you have further questions at feederwatch@cornell.edu.
Not surprised to see the wild turkey on top, haha! Those things can be crazy.
Hello, I have enjoyed my red headed woodpeckers this last year. Recently my front oak tree has seen a lot more of the starlings and then today when I got home from work both red headed woodpeckers and their babies were killed and in the floor. Their heads were pecked to shreds and there were more black starlings in the tree then normal. Just wanted to add that this happened as I found the article interesting and my situation frustrating.
If big birds are monopolizing your birdfeeder, you need a secure and safe way to discourage them without also chasing off the little guys. The Seed Saver birdfeeder from Droll Yankees uses an adjustable umbrella-like dome to keeps big birds from looting the seed and fruit intended for smaller ones. The dome has the added benefit of protecting small birds from the weather while they feed.
I love this thread! For whatever reason, Carolina Wren’s were not mentioned. During the winter, when they rely on feeders for supplementing their diet, those tiny little birds are pistols. I had a couple of them and they swooped in and kicked all the bird’s off and had them waiting for 7 minutes while it got it’s fill of food. The Cardinal, WB Nuthatch, Finches and Goldfinch all wait until the Wren is done. However, the Titmice or Chickadees are always welcome on the opposite side of the suet feeder. But, on the platform feeder, Blue Jay’s are king. The Wren’s do not go to that feeder though. The Pileated Woodpecker chases off the RB Woodpecker every time. That is a BIG bird and he has a sharp beak no one wants to be on the bad end of.
We have a house sparrow nest on our roof and we see them all the time: either 2 or 4 juveniles i don’t know if it’s the same family
And also we had a cardinal nest this spring.
They were very aggressive.
They were very aggressive those cardinals
Oops.
Today a blue jay killed a mourning dove in my yard. I did not see who “started” the fight but the jay obviously won. So horrible!
I am late to the game on this article but there are 2 birds that surround my scrub jay’s when they try to come to the feeder now. They come together and stalk him! I used to have 2 scrub Jays who came and ate together. Now I see only see one but he is constantly chased off and followed by these two brown birds with white on their tails. Larger in size. I cannot get a picture of them. I will try to capture their sound next time as it is loud and obnoxious. I wish they would stop and go away! They are bullies! Crazy because the jay’s have the reputation for that but have always played nice with all the species on my feeder which are a lot! They literally follow him and surround him even when he has given up on the feeder.
Thoughts on what bird it is?
Hello Kanar, thanks for reaching out. Please email our team at feederwatch@cornell.edu for help with bird ID – please also include your general location, what time of year you notice the birds, and a picture if possible. Cornell also has an app called Merlin ID, which now has a feature called Sound ID, where you can click the microphone and let the app ID what birds you are hearing. It is a useful tool, but I am also happy to try and ID the bird without sound via email. I hope this helps!