12:26 AM – More Bluebird excitement on the mealworm feeder. About three quarters of the way through the clip, a juvenile Bluebird lands next to an adult. It looks to me like he give the grown-up a little back talk, followed by – well, take a look. A slow-motion version is included.
Cardinal flapping and displaying to Mourning Dove. It doesn’t do any good – the dove isn’t going anywhere.
12:43 AM – The Red-bellied Woodpecker really dominates the feeder when he’s around. He actually pecks the other birds, instead of ‘displaying’ or feinting.
The Cardinal seems unperturbed by the doves he shares the feeder with, though he keeps a wary eye on the ones that get too close. I’m happy to see his post-molting feathers seem to be coming in nice and bright.
1:21 AM – I know it’s all natural, but I still hate to see the local feral cats get one of the birds. This video has a brief but graphic moment at the end when a Mourning Dove gets taken. There will be more pleasant videos to watch tomorrow.
WARNING – GRAPHIC VIOLENCE
Did that Blue Jay just try to steal a seed out of his buddy’s beak? It sure looks like it.
2:32 AM – Blue Jay squawking for food, more food! And hanging around with their Blue Jay buddies.
Just to show it’s not always Blue Jays fighting, here are a couple of doves getting into a squabble:
12:23 AM – A few days ago we posted a video about the backyard birds getting along in the feeders (most of the time). We’ll follow up with a clip of a Cardinal standing up to a dove – but not fighting back. The dove isn’t really going for the throat. It seems to be more of a series of warning pecks. The Cardinal show considerable restraint. At the end of the video, both got back to peaceful grazing.
I think the Mourning Dove must be mellowing (this one, anway). Here’s a Blue Jay eating with a dove watching – and no fireworks. Maybe they’ve figured out there’s plenty for everyone.
2:57 AM – Another agitated Blue Jay. Sometimes they’re so hysterical. And loud.
And sometimes they seem to get along alright. Watch this small gang of Jays go for a pile of fresh seed. Then watch them get dispersed by one Mourning Dove. The Jays keep coming back – but the camera battery ran out of juice before the matter was settled. I suspect it never gets settled, this kind of thing just goes on all day.
12:22 AM – The birds in our yard spend all-day every-day eating from the same feeder, drinking from the same birdbath. We’ve seen plenty of videos of bird squabbling and ‘fighting’ for territory in the platform feeder. But a lot of the time, they seem to get along all right. Like this Cardinal and dove. Of course, when a Blue Jay shows up, it’s a different matter.
In the background is a Goldfinch getting a drink of water. We haven’t seen one for a while. In the foreground a Cardinal – looks like he’s finally getting his head feathers back.
2:58 AM – There’s usually only one, sometimes two doves in the feeder. Today we had at least four. Maybe the dove population is growing. We hope not – they already get more than their share of feed.
Make sure the volume is turned down before you watch this clip. The Blue Jays are fighting again.
2:32 AM – This is very strange. It starts with a Red-bellied Woodpecker bullying a Mourning Dove on the platform feeder. Nothing unusual about that – the Red-belly is big and aggressive with a really strong, sharp beak. What happens after that is weird. The woodpecker is sitting on the feeder when something comes out of the sky and attacks him. It happened so fast that I can’t be sure what it is, but I suspect it was a hawk. The video is frozen at the moment the woodpecker gets away.
A few minutes later I saw the Red-belly back on the feeder, so I guess he’s alright. But he was very very vigilant.
The videos on this website are edited with Apple iMovie software. We usually keep it pretty simple, just cutting the raw material down to the high points, and adding some transition ‘cross dissolves’. In this video we’re experimenting with adding a sound track. The birds in the video are the horde of Grackles that invaded a few months back. The music is John Coltrane’s “Blue Train”.
4:42 AM – At the beginning of this clip notice the Blue Jay dropping a seed, and trying to snatch it out of the air. For some reason that’s a very human gesture. Next, another Jay lands, and they have a beak duel. Then a longer sequence with a Jay and a Cardinal getting some feathers back on her bald head. I still think Cards are more aggressive when they’re molting and irritable.
The Mourning Doves have hogged the platform feeder for so long this Summer that the other birds seem to have gotten used to it. The cheeky little finch and the Jay ignore the bigger bird.