Birds Not Of A Feather...

Chipchopper | 09:51 Mon 16th Feb 2015 | Twitching & Birdwatching

2 Answers

I noticed lately that when magpies appear in my garden to use the feeders, I quite often see a pair of ring-neck parakeets at the same time, flying in and out of the garden together.
On the face of it, it seems that they are using each others skills at detecting food. both being highly intelligent bird species, makes this seem plausible.
Anyone else noticed this kind of behavior ?

Marsh Tit

Sheffield Peregrines

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melv16

I've seen merlins follow hen harriers when hunting on moorland. The harrier flushes out the small birds & the merlin snaffles them. Btw, I saw this some years ago, when harriers were reasonably common.

Chipchopper

Question Author

Yes, Melv I think birds are much more intelligent than we give them credit for.
I remember walking through an Arboretum in Boston MA, a couple of years ago, when I noticed a Red Tailed Hawk which appeared to be closely following me.
After a while I realized it had learnt to cash in on the small birds that I had inadvertently been flushing out of the bushes as I walked by.

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