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When a bird of prey flies over, a flock of crows may dive-bomb the predator and give it a noisy escort out of town. An Eastern Kingbird, like this one, will clamp its feet onto the back of a hawk to send it packing. How do they know which birds to chase off and which to ignore? By genetic wiring, or instinct, but also learning. By watching their parents in the act of mobbing, youngsters gain critical knowledge that may save their own skin.
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BirdNote®
To Mob or Not to Mob
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[American Crow alarm calls]
When an eagle or hawk flies overhead, a flock of crows may fly up to meet it, dive-bombing the predator and giving it a noisy escort out of town.
[American Crow alarm calls]
An Eastern Kingbird will actually clamp its feet onto the back of a much larger hawk to send it packing.
[Eastern Kingbird alarm call]
Birds of different species will even team up to mob the big predators. But how do they know which big birds to chase off and which to ignore? And how do they know to ignore birds like vultures that, to us, look so much like hawks or eagles overhead?
Scientists think birds owe this fine-tuned ability to identify threats to both instinct and learning. Experiments suggest that young birds may be genetically wired to avoid risks. But they need to watch experienced birds in action to refine their know-how. By watching their parents in the act of mobbing, youngsters gain critical knowledge that may save their own skin.
So when a mobbing flock of crows teams up on an eagle, they’re not only drawing attention and chasing off a potential danger, they may also be giving young crows an important lesson — in bird identification.
[American Crow alarm calls]
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Bird sounds provided by Xeno-Canto and The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. American Crow XC379659 recorded by Lance A. M. Benner, Eastern Kingbird ML7968 recorded by James W Kimball.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
© 2017 Tune In to Nature.org November 2017/2021 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# mob-03-2017-11-17 mob-03
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