Bird Fight

In a world of limited, sometimes scarce, resources, is it any wonder that on occasion we fight a little bit?

Take these two birds, for example. I put out plenty of bird seed knowing that they could find little food with all the freshly fallen snow.

I placed the seed in numerous locations on and about my deck and bird feeder. But often the birds would leave the seed they were eating so as to scare other birds away from the seed they were eating in their own locations. And in that, excuse the phrase, round-robin process they'd be leaving their seed behind which would quickly be worked on by other birds.

This social mayhem is one of the things that makes watching birds fun however it also arouses within us a feeling that fair play isn't being followed. We get annoyed at the "bully birds"which is funny 'cause the behavior is quite common up and down the food chain. Certainly we humans follow similar strategies, but so do many other species. In any case, the birds on my back deck had plenty to eat---and squabble about too.

Comments

kenju said…
One year, in a deep snow, I scattered bird seed every morning on my back deck. Hundred of birds came and then the squirrels discovered it. Pretty soon, they were running off any bird that landed near it. I quit feeding them, until I got a bird feeder.
10:02 AM
Evil Twin's Wife said…
They're so cute. I hope the ones that got scared off came back later! :-)
10:15 AM
Unknown said…
Ah Nature, bloody in tooth and claw...or someting like that. We teach little kids that all the animals are soft, cuddly, and friends - then they grow up and realize we lied. I feel guilty giving my grandniece stuff that encourages the lie - but have a nice, cuddly, teddy bear dressed as a rabbit to give her when I visit on Friday.
10:29 AM
tiff said…
Our feeder was bird central yesteray - I was amazed they could find seed under the snow. By afternoon they'd kicked away most of it under the feeder and were just going to town!
1:00 PM
Bobkat said…
That's a great photo of the little birds. They look like sparrows to me.

I feed the birds too and their is always squabbling. It's all natural behaviour and survival of the fittest. It makes me laugh as often the bird doing the most chasing is often the one doing the least eating :)
4:17 PM
rosemary said…
we have starlings that act like terrorists to all of the other birds at the feeders....only the woodpeckers ignore them.
6:58 PM
srp said…
We didn't get that much snow... actually, only a dusting.. but it has been cold. We had freezing rain before the snow and one set of the brick steps was really, really icy. Here it is 2 days later and we still have one little patch of ice and snow from that dusting. Out of the sun and with the temps so cold... amazing!

We had huge numbers of birds.. I counted at least 16 varieties. Even the eastern towhee's showed up at the feeder... they usually stay out at the edge of the preserve.
10:50 PM
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