Please add observations - Wild Bird Behavior -

Sherlock · #1 (**permalink**) 20-10-2009, 10:20 AM

I originally posted this on Bird Of The Day but as I would like to know more pleae let me know of your experiences.

"I was in the back garden and was watching a group of some 10 sparrows and a starling on a roof of a house behind mine. In the gutter a starling was playing with a bit of fluff or something.

The sparrows sounded quite excited so I watched for a minute or so. The sparrows were mostly within 1 metre of the starling. Several times the starling hopped onto the roof near the gutter and the sparrows showed little sign of moving back. All of a sudden a sparrow flew in towards the roof from over my head (I think it was a female sparrow). She lunged at the starling, landing on its back and the pair fell off the roof towards the ground with the starling sqwarking madly. I could not see how far they fell but within a second the starling flew up to the house ridge and did not return to the gutter area.

Several of the sparrows went down into the rain water gutter for a while. I assume that there is a roost or old sparrow nest there. We have many hedges close by and the sparrows are by far the most common feeders at a feeder that we have in our front garden.

Last year I noticed a House sparrow chasing a Jackdaw for over 40 metres including 4 change of directions - quite a coincidence as the sparrow was less than a metre away from the Jackdaw".

I have read of two known instances of sparrows setting houses on fire by flying up to a nest with carelessly discarded cigarettes - One in England.

Does anyone know if there is any pecking order in a group of sparrows? From what I observe the females give as good as they get when there`s food about.

thebeard · #2 (**permalink**) 20-10-2009, 12:48 PM

there has been some research done into the dominance hierarchies of house sparrows, i studied it last year as part of my behavioural and evolutionary ecology module at university. A scientiest who goes by the name of Anders Pape Moller has done some interesting studies on the dominance of House sparrows. It seems that the more dominant individuals have plumage which differs as they get higher in status, and this is known as a 'badge of status'. One of the more interesting studies was where he tested to see whether it was simply the badge alone which caused males to be dominant, or whether it was more based on hormones and experience. I can't find the exact one right now, but i'll post it up when i can find it if you like. in the meantime, if you are interested here is one of his studies, others like it are pretty easy to find on google.

http://www.wisecampus.com/uploads/no..._reading_7.pdf

rangersarah2 · #3 (**permalink**) 20-10-2009, 07:27 PM

I know it's not about sparrows but thought you might like it.

A few years ago a pair of swans built a nest in one of our reedbeds. They were obviously very proud of it. One day they both left the nest unattended and when they came back a pair of geese had stolen it (I'm not kidding - in the middle of the nest was a lovely fresh goose egg). For the rest of the summer there was all-out war. At every opportunity the male swan would fly up then land on the male goose. Very funny to watch.

A few years later the same male swan decided that his territory was going to encompass 3 ponds and all the land between them, including lots of footpaths. He would attack anyone on his patch, so we had to put up 'Beware of the Swan' notices. We named him Asbo.

The year of his naming he only had 2 cygnets and soon lost one. He moved the remains of his family into our watervole area where he could better defend them. Within a week of them moving there a young mallard went to live with them - I assume so that the swan would protect her too, which he did. And they say birds are stupid.............

Sherlock · #4 (**permalink**) 21-10-2009, 04:14 PM

Many thanks for your posts thebeard and rangersarah2. I have just read a story in the daily mail online about a Magpie funeral.

There were 4 Magpies near a dead "friend". One of them went up to the corpse, gently pecked at it, and stepped back then another magpie did the same thing. One of the magpies flew off, and came back with some grass and put it by the corpse. Another magpie did the same and then all four stood vigil for while and then one by one flew away.

2dogs2000 · #5 (**permalink**) 22-10-2009, 08:10 PM

A couple of years ago I was surprised to hear a lot of magpies causing a commotion outside. They were diving in and out of a willow tree and squawking like mad. When I looked there was a cat in the tree

This tree was the only one in a garden and there was no sign of a nest. To see ten or more magpies together is very rare where I live.
The cat survived to live another day.

Sherlock · #6 (**permalink**) 25-10-2009, 04:52 PM

Scientists reckon that the V shaped formation that Geese use when migrating serves two purposes-

One, it conserves energy as every bird flies slightly above the bird in front. This, results in less wind resistance. Also they take turns being in the front, and fall back when they get tired. Doing this the Geese can fly for longer before they stop for a rest.

Two, in the V formation it is easier to keep track of every bird in the group.

An 83 year old told me the Geese fly in a V for safety as they look like a huge bird.