Our wintering Audubon’s Warbler does not like the Chestnut-backed Chickadees. He does not want to see them feeding. They out-number three-to-one so he’s kept busy when they arrive at one time, as they often do. Bad news, Auddy, my friend. Today I counted FOUR after days of three chickadees at once.
That additional chickadee got me to thinking…not about how to help territorial Auddie…but about flocks. What the flock? I thought. How and where did this new chickadee get into the flock. Was there a vote? A shrug and here’s the new guy? We ambulatory mammals know very little about the sociology of flocks. Who get in, who’s not in or can any bird join a flock simply by flying along? Bushtit flocks surely cling to a confined territory…I guess. What about more mobile flocks–say migrating thrushes or shorebirds? Many flocks are seasonal. Some, like gulls, seem to be continuous.
Here are some links to reports on flock flight. How it works, why it’s helpful to flock members:
Flock flight resembles liquid helium. Click here for second look at the same research.Click here for second look at the same research.
Jackdaws, a Eurasian corvid, finds pair bond more important than flock bond.
More feeder birds:
Note that white tailed junco, in midst of molt.
Roadkill in the rain:
820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 8, 2020
13 species
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
California Scrub-Jay 1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 4
Bushtit 25
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Bewick’s Wren 1
European Starling 10
House Sparrow X
House Finch X
Dark-eyed Junco 30
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2
Spotted Towhee 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
820 NW 19th Street, McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, US
Jan 7, 2020
12 species
Cackling Goose 40
Eurasian Collared-Dove 7
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 3
Bewick’s Wren 1
European Starling X
American Robin 1
House Sparrow X
House Finch X
Dark-eyed Junco 30
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
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