Questions tagged [bird-behaviour]
Questions relating to specific or unusual behaviour shown in birds.
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Is this a Starling Egg in a Robin's Nest?
Robins built a nest on a trellis in front of my deck. I was curious and peeked inside when the bird was away. There was one blue egg. A few days later I saw a starling walking around this nest.
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Are food store locations of scrub jays and squirrels precisely remembered?
Here on the Central California Coast (Monterey), I feed peanuts (unsalted) in the shell to scrub jays and squirrels. Often, apparently after they have surfeited themselves, they continue to get ...
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Will house finches abandon a nest that fills with snow?
I had a pair of house finches build a nest in some hedges outside my window. It looked pretty much complete, but ten days ago we had a severe snowstorm that dropped a foot of snow on the yard. Despite ...
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Do Hawks Like to Walk?
Just wondering if this is normal behavior, or if someone has an explanation for it.
My wife noticed a hawk perched on a branch of a small tree in our yard, about six feet off the ground. After about ...
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Blue tits looking in nesting boxes
I have had blue tits coming to my garden for a few years and have had a couple of bird nesting boxes up for about 2 years, but these have never been nested in.
I have seen blue tits occasionally land ...
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Are swifts flying around my window trying to "scare me"?
I recently moved to a previously inhabited house. I have a window in the first floor. Sometimes, when I open it and lean outside on it, a pack of 4 swifts come and start to fly "aggresively",...
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What bird(s) is this in this recording?
I have been hearing these birds from around the start of July in Australia from my backyard (mid-winter) at 7am, 8am and 9am depending on the day and they go on for at least 1-2hours. What bird(s) is/...
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Where do Canada geese live at night?
I live in the central Ohio area. There is a human-made lake surrounded by grasses around my home, and the size of the lake is about 2 tennis courts. Many Canada Geese together with their chicks gather ...
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Behavior of crow pair, larger crow eats the food, not leaving any for smaller buddy
There are a couple of crows that come around regularly, they come as a pair. One is larger than the other. Perhaps a couple? or parent and youth? or adult and older parent?
When providing nuts/seeds ...
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Why do they turn the 9/11 Memorial Lights off for birds?
On the morning of September 11, 2001, two airplanes flew into the "Twin Towers," part of the hub of the World Trade Center in New York City, United States. The towers, which at one time had ...
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Can Cormorants swallow and digest large prey like eels whole?
Can a cormorant really manage to digest a huge, living eel, bones and all?
Does the poor eel (it was quite a bright/pretty green color) stand any slim chance of escaping (that thrashing, biting, etc.)...
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Birds singing and dancing on telephone wire
Location: UK East Midlands, suburban garden. Bird: possible marsh tits, something in that size range with a black cap. Time: late July.
Two similar-looking birds were observed making high-pitched, ...
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How to tell the difference between Lesser and Great spotted Woodpeckers?
Around my work I walk in local parks for a couple of hours a day, and I've noticed we have Green Woodpeckers, and I've seen them quite a few times and can now recognise them rather easily.
Recently I ...
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How do they tell the sex of Peregrine Falcon chicks?
Related to this question where the difference in size might possibly be due to one of the 3 peregrine falcon chicks being male, how do they tell whether a peregrine chick is male or female?
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Why might a larger peregrine falcon chick take longer to molt than smaller siblings?
It has become a bit of a fad in the last few days at my current workplace to open a browser tab to either http://www.lbwl.com/falcon.htm or http://www.lbwl.com/falcon2.htm , take a quick look now and ...
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Can dirty bird feeders make birds sick?
We have bird feeders of all shapes, sizes, and types of material. Some we've had for years. We dump out leftover bird seed and shells when we refill them. If there are obvious dangers, like algae, ...
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White Throated Magpie Jay - Costa Rica
My wife and I have been watching these magpie Jays for a while and I was just wondering what if all would be the purpose of the plume on their heads. It's strange in it's a single strand with a few ...
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Can a tag on the prey's leg harm a peregrine falcon if eaten?
I saw a bird (the mother) swallow the birdring of another bird it was eating on live camera (while feeding its chicks) link (the site is in Polish) and I am wondering whether:
Can it actually cause ...
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Why aren’t birds using these feeders?
I've been hanging these fat balls for a good while and they're intact. Previously I was hanging a feeder filled with seeds (for birds) in front of the window and that was also intact for a while; so I ...
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What can I do to get garden birds back after hawk has made my bird-feeder his hunting ground?
I put up a bird feeder in my backyard over the summer and have been enjoying taking care of the birds. Unfortunately, sometime in the fall a hawk decided to start hanging around my yard. I shoo him ...
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How can a Common Kingfisher bird balance on a tiny swaying reed without moving its head?
This is a one minute video of a Common Kingfisher bird standing on a tiny reed swaying in the wind. It's from the BBC Network in England.
For much of the video, especially the beginning, the bird ...
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How common are avian diseases?
I feed the local birds quite a lot, and am wondering about the possibility of contracting any avian-related illnessess. How often is it for us to come across a disease-ridden bird anywhere, as well as ...
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How common is it for a mother duck to adopt ducklings?
There is a recent story of how one mother duck kept adopting more ducklings that weren't hers and eventually ended up with 76 ducklings.
This is called "brood amalgamation", how common is it among ...
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Do doves go through a molting time of shedding and replacing their feathers?
We live in Massachusetts, Northeastern United States. It's late July, and our temperatures this month have ranged between 70°F (21°C) and 90°F (32°C).
Mourning doves, Zenaida macroura, live here ...
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How do songbirds and small animals know when there's a hawk in the immediate vicinity?
At any given time in our yard, we have at least 20 birds, up to the same number of squirrels, 15 or so chipmunks, and a few rabbits. Our many feeders and birdbaths are mostly under big trees and next ...
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Why are birds so nervous around humans?
I bet the first thing that came to your mind, was...
because humans are evil and hurt animals
because we're bigger than birds
because we are louder than birds
because of all of the above
...right?
...
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Do any birds hibernate?
A friend said she heard there's a species of bird that hibernates during the winter. I was surprised because I've only heard of birds that either migrate to warm weather as it gets cold; or stay ...
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How big do ducklings get before they can fly?
The ducklings are getting much bigger very quickly, to the point that it's almost hard to tell the mother duck from the ducklings, (mother duck in back of procession)
How much bigger are these ...
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Is it realistic that a duck would raise a swan?
One of the older fairy tales is The Ugly Duckling where the one oddball of the bunch is considered ugly by the other ducks but turns out to be a swan at the end of the story.
From what I have read, ...
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When and why were House Sparrows originally brought to the United States?
The common House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, is one of the few birds not protected under federal law in North America, because it's considered a non-native species. However, it currently lives in ...
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How should I rescue a baby bird, including when it's wet?
A baby black bird fell in my baby's pool and I think he was there about 30 min. I took him from the pool and put him under the sun for 3-4 min to dry and then left him under the tree where there is ...
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How do mallard mother ducks tell their ducklings from others?
Right now the irrigation ditches and ponds have lots and lots of mallard ducklings, sometimes multiple families to a single pond. The way to tell is that there will be too many ducklings for one ...
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Sparrows eating grains strewn on floor but not the grains in a nice bowl
Have the good fortune of having sparrows around my house.
I feed basmati rice + big bowl of water to sparrows. I sprinkle basmati rice and other grains in the balcony. The sparrows flock once in ...
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How do I safely move around Canada Geese?
I live in an area with a lot of lakes/ponds, with many paths around them. Many humans and dogs enjoy walking on these paths. However, the Canada geese have recently set up shop on the lakes. They don'...
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Is it possible for birds to develop mental problems?
A buzzard seen nearby has been continuously attacking people for over a year now. As far as I know this isn't normal behaviour, especially not outside breeding season. Please correct me if I'm wrong. ...
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Why was I attacked by a bird (twice)?
Last night, I had to climb a tower at work. When I reached the top platform (about 40 feet up), and turned my back to close the swinging gate behind me, I was whacked on the back of the head.
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Do birds eat chillies? Do they feel the chilli heat?
We had a few white browed bulbuls visit us recently.
One of them seemed to have a peculiar interest in the chillies that grew in one of our pots (I believe these are bird's eye chillies [no pun ...
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Why are vultures attracted to rubber on vehicles?
I was looking up some things for some of our recent questions when I saw this line in the safety guide for Everglades National Park,
Vultures are attracted to the rubber on vehicles and have been ...
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Is a sentinel (guard) Canada Goose always a male, or a female, or does it vary?
While there are a number of recognized sub-species of Canada geese, this question pertains to the main species, Branta canadensis.
This answer to a question asking how many hours a day Canada Geese ...
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How to defend against swooping Torresian Crow
6 weeks ago a pair of Torresian Crows ("also called Australian crow or Papuan crow") began roosting in close proximity to my residence. Their chicks have left the nest and they do not seem to be ...
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What is the meaning and proper usage of the term "irruption" in bird behavior?
The author of a question on this site wondered if they had possibly seen a snowy owl.
A quoted source in this answer to that question used the word irruption in part of a sentence about where the ...
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Why do some birds fly in a V-formation?
When birds gather into groups, they fly in a variety of different formations and patterns.
Some birds fly in a formation that looks like the letter "V". Several species of geese, pelicans, and ibis ...
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Possible snowy owl seen in the trees
I was out hunting last weekend (end of October) near Yellow Pine, Idaho. While walking up a hill during the late morning with moderate timber coverage (thin enough to ski comfortably but thick enough ...
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What's the ecological impact of bird-baths?
When reading this question (What is the ecological justification (if any) for bird feeders?) on bird feeders I wondered if there would be an ecological impact on having a bird bath.
Especially in ...
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What is the ecological justification (if any) for bird feeders?
Like many people, we have bird feeders, and a bird-bath. We also have a feeding station (replenished in the mornings only) that attracts squirrels and chipmunks and some of the larger birds. During ...
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Do backyard birds prefer birdbaths with moving water?
It's spring here in the Northeastern United States, and we're getting a large influx of the wonderful birds who will spend the summer and fall with us. Although we feed and water birds, and any other ...
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Why are common grackles standing on our bird feeders with their heads pointed straight up?
I live in Northeastern United States, where it's spring at the moment. We keep bird-feeders throughout the year, so those that over-winter always have something to eat.
As is usual at this time of ...
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What is the smallest owl in the world, and where can I see one?
I've read that there are up to 200 species of owls, encompassing many sizes, shapes and colors.
Ornithologists and scientists continue finding new species and sub-species. They also re-name ...
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Bird migration across Atlantic?
Which bird species migrate between Europe and the Americas?
I know there are some species which migrate over vast distances, such as the Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), which flies through ...
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Is this bar-headed goose's behavior an indication of a problem?
After seeing this question which had this animation:
I was left wondering whether this behavior was "normal" or at least healthy. I know sometimes when an animal exhibits odd behavior there's ...
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