March 27, 2007

For The Birds

Interesting:

A study of chickadees and nuthatches has revealed the first example of one species of bird being able to interpret details of the warning signals used by another.

Many animals sound the alarm when they spot predators. While these alarms are specifically directed to nearby kin, numerous studies have shown that unrelated species frequently recognise and respond too. But in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Christopher Templeton and Erick Greene at the University of Washington, Seattle, demonstrated that sometimes these eavesdroppers can be quite discriminatory.

"No one has ever seen this behaviour before. There are a fair number of animals that respond to other animal's alarm calls. But this is the first example of subtle information from a call being interpreted by another species," said Templeton. "Nuthatches can tell if a raptor poses a high or low danger from the chickadee's alarm call."

We've got loads of nuthatches and chickadees on the grounds of Orgle Manor. Far from sophisticated predatory warning intel, I think if you translated the calls they make around our feeder, you'd get something more like this:

- Hey, quit shoving!
- Well I was here first!
- Were not!
-Was too!

- Which one of you stole my sunflower seed?
- Don't look at me!
- Yeah, it must have been that bastard sparrow over there......

- C'mon, C'mon! Give somebody else a turn, wouldja?
- Don't rush me! If you're in a hurry, go bug the goldfinches at the thistle feeder!

- Hey, didja see the squirrel try to climb on the Yankee Flipper? HA-ha!

Posted by Robert at March 27, 2007 09:15 AM | TrackBack
Comments

This is nonsense according to my observations. When a hawk is circling overhead all the birds go into defensive mode. The crows, like strike force fighters, go up to meet the hawk and, all the other birds run for cover.
It becomes very quiet in the yard. In fact, if I am out gardening, I actually look up when the noise stops and, sure enough, there is a hawk up above.
Anyone that spends a lot of time in a yard with birds knows that the alarm is sounded "inter-species" when danger is near.

Posted by: Babs at March 29, 2007 08:35 AM