Bird table pecking order

[pressld2]

As far as I can work out its:

• Robin will beat up other robins, dunnocks and wrens.
• Blackbird will beat up robins, other blackbirds and starlings
• Wood pigeon will beat up blackbirds, other wood pigeons and collared doves
• Ring-necked parakeets ignore all ground feeders but will beat up any tits or finches that dare to approach the hanging feeders

It's mayhem out there. Loads of them are spending more time fighting than feeding!

Dave P.

[SusieBee]

My list of garden birds is not as long as some of you lucky people cos I only have a small garden.

But have plenty of types of feeders/foods throughout placed everywhere I can, so they all seem to feed happily together going from table to table.

Except the starlings they squabble like crazy! Though they're so funny to watch and love the chattering noise they make.

[Natasha_38]

Ha! First two points definitely until today when one of the starlings stood up to the resident blackbird - was very funny to watch. Until recently I didn't realise quite how aggressive they can be.
The poor dunnocks are getting rough time from the robins, I've been putting food out under the bush they hide in just so they don't have to endure the robins bullying them too much!
The great/blue/lomg tailed tits all seem very well behaved in comparison - they seem to take it turns at the feeders, no violence amongst them!

[moonpenny01]

Interesting, in my garden, robins tolerate the wrens, woodpigeons and collared doves feed alongside chaffinches, but the pied wagtail beats up anything that comes near it!

[shenk1]

Extra large female blackbird is in charge of the ground table. She takes on every one except the wood pigeon who then chases the doves off that follow it around ( sure they do it just to annoy him ).The robins don't eat much as they just play chase most of the time. The G S woodpecker is in charge of the suet block ,he particularly doesn't like starlings. Other than that its quite peaceful out there!

[2dogs2000]

I have a robin who chases the sparrows but he is outnumbered by about 50-1. I also have a few squabbles amogst the blackbirds.

[Red Squirrel]

Sat watching a g s woodpecker eating from a fat ball wedged in a branch. A robin sat 12ins away waiting it's turn but having a go at the woodpecker to make it move. It didn't until it had had it's fill.

The red squirrels won't feed together and fight if another comes near. There can be 6 feeding in the garden but have to be a good distance apart. Female blackbirds will have a go at the reds even if the squirrel is hanging from the feeder.

Grey squirrels have infiltrated this area and they chase the reds off but will feed from the same station as another grey.

[Natasha_38]

Strange - the female blackbirds in my garden don't bother joining in with the fighting amongst the males. They seem far too interested in stuffing their faces with berries. They were feeding quite happily alongside the redwing & fieldfare whilst their other halves were off squabbling amongst themselves & missing ot on the food. Sensible girls!!!

[rogpow]

Originally Posted by shenk1

Extra large female blackbird is in charge of the ground table.

Same here. She spends most of the time seeing off the other blackbirds (male and female), and this afternoon I watched her continually harassing two redwings and a thrush that were trying to get a last feed before dark.

[clare]

The blackbirds seem to be fairly aggressive at the moment chasing away anything that feeds on the ground.

The starlings also tend to wade in and chase most things off. The pair of robins are only mildly aggressive at the moment and most of the smaller birds seem to get on OK.

There's a definite pecking order with the wood pigeons who assert their ranking by sidling up to another bird and more or less pushing them off their perch. There seem to be a couple of pairs around at the moment who see each other off at regular intervals.

My dunnocks are reasonably brave - feeding off the bird table and mesh feeder but defer to most other species.