Understanding Bird Behavior

How many times have you watched the birds and wondered why they behave the way they do? I think many of us tend to look at birds anthropomorphically: we give them human traits—mate feeding is a sign of love; birds of prey are cruel. Birds are creatures of instinct not emotions: they do what they do to ensure the survival of their species.

In the next few issues of BirdChat, we’ll learn about some of the basic bird behaviors we see in our own backyards. I’ll try to keep the articles seasonal so you’ll have a chance to observe the behaviors we explore. For instance, you won’t see behavior related to nesting in the winter and flocking (the topic we cover in this newsletter) is behavior we usually don’t see in the summer.

Flocking

Some bird species live in flocks year round and some birds don’t flock at all. Most of the birds in our backyards are territorial during the spring and summer nesting season: they defend their area against others of their own species. Then in the fall, most of these nesting pairs and family groups start flocking.

Some species flock together, like goldfinches; others, like chickadees, titmice and nuthatches form mixed flocks—made up of several compatible species.

Swallows and swifts start flocking in late summer in anticipation of their long migration south in the fall. Flocking helps young birds learn to migrate and it teaches them social structure.
In some species, males, females and juveniles migrate in separate flocks.

In the fall, resident birds are searching for winter feeding grounds and the more eyes devoted to this task the better. Birds assembled in flocks are safer, too: multiple eyes and ears improve predator awareness.

One interesting aspect of flocking is each bird’s maintenance of its own individual space. Just drive along the interstate and look for starling flocks on the wires; you’ll see that the birds are usually evenly spaced along the wire and as one bird approaches another, a scuffle ensues and one bird will be forced to move.

In the late winter you’ll notice males become less tolerant of each other at the feeder, a sure sign that flocks are breaking down into nesting pairs for the breeding season. In the spring edition of BirdChat, we’ll study some aspects of courtship.