Deformed Chipping Sparrow & Unusual Cardinal Behavior
Check out this photo of a chipping sparrow that was at Mr. Neil's feeder today. At a distance, it looked like it was sporting a beard, but closer inspection through a spotting scope showed some type of growth or tumor.
The bird was able to feed, but did not hang around with the other chipping sparrows. In fact, this bird preferred to use the tube feeders as opposed to feeding on the ground.
I also wondered if this was some sort of weird crop (a storage pouch on birds) infection as well.
Has anyone seen anything like this? Anyone know what this could be?
In other news, Hasty Brook sent over this question:
I've got a question for you. I've been watching a wren working hard, stuffing sticks into a birdhouse attached to our shed. While I was watching a male cardinal swooped in and snatched the twig out of its beak! I though it was a fluke but a few minutes later it did it again. In fact for several minutes the two birds continued this. At one point the wren went into the house (sans stick), the cardinal landed on top of the house and when the wren tried to exit the cardinal attacked. Is this common bird behavior? Are cardinals that territorial?
I asked my buddy Stan and he said he thinks the cardinal is stealing nesting material--birds do that. I agree, although I have watched how aggressive cardinals are at the feeder and wonder if the cardinal is trying to discourage the house wren. Has anyone out there witnessed this type of behavior from a cardinal (or any other bird)? Any experts lurking out there who knows what is going on or can point us in the right direction for more information? I tried BNA, but have not been able to log on tonight.
Labels: digiscoping, Holy Crap
posted by birdchick at 9:25 PM
11 Comments:
That's so sad!
I think he looks dashing!
I've never seen the type of behavior that Hasty describes...but last year I did witness a male Northern Cardinal sitting on a cedar branch right next to a Tufted Titmouse and feeding it.
I asked Anne Hobbs at Cornell about this and she wrote back saying that while this type of behavior is unusual, other species have been known to feed the nestlings or young birds of a different species. Ann said that she even had pictures of a male Northern Cardinal feeding Carolina Wren nestlings in the nest!
Aren't birds cool?
I bookmarked this when I saw it, because of the thousands of birds I've banded, I'd never seen one like that. That changed yesterday! The victim was an old female goldfinch. I posted a pic in my Flickr photo stream:
http://tinyurl.com/3ex5nl
Could be self-defence on the cardinal's part: territorially-established male wrens are highly possessive and are known to pierce the eggs of any other songbirds it can find within its `hood. If the cardinal can interfere with the wren`s territorial instincts, it increases the survival chances of its own brood.
I just did a google search to find out more information about the male cardinal.
My children and I have been watching the wren nest in our hanging flower basket for a few weeks now. This morning it looked as if the babies were learning to fly. Lots of chirping and papa bird perched on a nearby basketball hoop.
This afternoon I walked by the front door and there was a male cardinal perched next to the hanging basket, mama and papa wren were taking the defensive in and above the basket. It looked as if the cardinal was going to attack so I opened the door to scare him off. What was going on?
Another question. My children want to know why the robins hop and run when the can fly.
Thanks for your time.
I honestly don't know about the cardinal and the wren. Maybe you are witnessing new behavior?
My best guess is that the cardinal doesn't like to share its territory with the wren. But again, that is just a guess.
As for robins hopping instead of flying: flying for birds is like jogging for us--it takes a lot of energy and you don't want to do it all the time. They hop away from suspected danger. They fly away from known danger.
I live in Arkansas and enjoy the beautiful Cardinal birds. However, a female Cardinal that lives in a tree outside the beauty parlor I attend has developed some very strange behavior. She "attacks" the large plate glass window in the top left corner; always the same place. She has done this for months. We have tried tying plastic bags on the tree to distract her and also have draped rubber snakes to try to scare her off. I thought she was probably seeing her reflection in the glass, but she even attacks the window when it is dark and she cannot see her reflection. The male never attacks the window; it's only the female, and she sometimes does this all day, every day.
She's driving the customers crazy, but I feel sorry for her and don't know what to do to stop this behavior. Any suggestions?
In response to the post by a-paradox, I too have a female cardinal that flies at my bay window. She lightly hits it with her feet and flys away to a nearby bush, before doing it again, again. She's been doing this for at least 2 years. She often will land on the edge of the screen attached to the window and sit and watch us for several minutes. I wave at her and have named her Flossie and enjoy her company when sitting in my family room. Lately, there is now a tufted titmouse that has started the same behavior - flying at the window and lightly tapping with her feet before swooping back to the star magnolia next to the window. If anyone can explain this behavior, I'd be interested in hearing about it.
Sandy
Does the male or female cardinal feed juvinile cardinals? I have a male cardinal feeding what looks like a juvinile cardinal. It could be a titmouse but the beak, although brown/gray, is shaped like a Cardinal's. This juvy cries and flaps his/her wings continuously until fed and if the male cardinal leaves the juvy just follows him! Any thoughts anyone?
I watch my birds by the hour. I have many times watched my cardinals, both male and female feeding their young. Usually it is the male, however. Mom must need a rest. :-)
I have also seen this behavior in other species. The rose-breasted grosbeak also feeds the young. It is rather hard to tell in other small birds, although I've seen sparrows do the puffing, flapping, but not get fed.
Post a Comment
<< Home