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Why Do Birds Flick Their Tails?
Tail flicks can be as unique as songs.
© Becky Matsubara
The way that some birds flick, wag, or flare their tails can be distinctive. A flicking or flashing tail might suggest to a predator that a bird is particularly alert or hard to catch, while also warning others in the flock of danger. Tail flicking can also help flush out prey. A Hooded Warbler — or a Song Sparrow, like this one — may flare its tail while foraging low to the ground to cause insects to jump, making them easier prey.
BirdNote®
Why Do Birds Flick Their Tails?
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
The way that some birds flick, wag, or flare their tails can be as unique to a species as their song.
[Dark-eyed Junco song]
A junco foraging on the ground rapidly flashes white tail feathers that normally remain hidden.
[Song Sparrow call notes]
When a Song Sparrow walks, hops or flits from bush to bush, its tail flicks jerkily up and down.
[Song Sparrow call notes]
What’s it all about? One reason is that a bird’s repeated, habitual movements communicate information. Kind of like a person using hand gestures to signal to others. The tail flicking can also be used to deceive predators or to flush out prey.
A flicking or flashing tail might suggest to a predator that a bird is particularly alert or hard to catch, while also warning others in the flock of danger. When a hawk dives at a flock of juncos, there is an instant eruption of white flashing tails — a visual yell — which may distract a hawk’s aim at a single junco.
[Dark-eyed Junco song]
A Hooded Warbler may flare its tail while foraging low to the ground to cause insects to jump, making them easier prey.
[Hooded Warbler song]
While we often focus on their calls and songs, there's a lot you can learn about what birds are communicating by watching their tails.
For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Dark-eyed Junco ML 42250 recorded by G. Keller, Song Sparrow ML 104606851 recorded by M. Mutchler,
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© BirdNote August 2021 / June 2023 Narrator: Mary McCann
ID tail-flicking-01 tail-flicking-01-2021-08-25
Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Mary McCann
NarratorSights & Sounds
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