Breeding Bird Behaviors and Crows

When May is done, so is the Spring migration of songbirds. Most birds have now settled into the business of raising young on a plot of land they have claimed as their own for a time. The male maintains his vigilance against other young males who may still be wandering around, unattached to both a female and a site. Both parents are vigilant against predators who will rob their nest of eggs or young.

This vigilance may give rise to what may seem weird behavior at times. Many is the call that now goes in to Audubon Sanctuaries about a robin or cardinal fluttering and banging at a window over and over, so that the homeowner fears for its safety. Try not to be alarmed, because the bird is unlikely to harm itself, and it will stop doing it in a few weeks.

A large glass surface can be a menace to birds if they fly unheeding and headlong into it. Birds who only flutter and peck at a window, bumping their bodies into it, do see the window, but they also see their own reflection there. At some point they have wandered close to the window at that exact point, seeing a rival suddenly appear to challenge their ownership of the nesting area. So they revisit the spot over and over, always finding the intruder there, and always attempting to drive it away.

Last week we were dining with friends at a hotel restaurant with huge, two-story plate-glass windows that looked out upon a lawn and a heavy grove of woodland and brush. I was on the alert for birds flying by, so I immediately noticed the large dark shape that sailed by the window, close enough to reach out and touch if the glass had not been there. To my surprise, it was a crow.

Its flight went along the windows and turned the corner into a courtyard out of sight. A moment later it returned along the same path and I turned to watch it glide past and around another gradual corner to the last panel of windows, where it slowed, came even closer to the surface, and rose up to the top, just under the large overhang. Then it banged into the window and fluttered there several times before breaking off the engagement and diving down and away.

It returned to its patrol right past our position, out of sight briefly and then back to repeat exactly its amazing performance at the top of the last window panel. After several repeats the waitress came by and said, "I see you have met weird Harold. He usually does this in the morning, over and over again." It was unusual entertainment for dinner guests, but Harold was not weird. He was just doing his job.

Crows are reputed to be intelligent because they can imitate human words fairly well. Their vocal cords are capable of an amazing variety of sounds, but most of them are confined to the nest area when the male and female greet each other. They have a larger cousin, the raven, and a slightly smaller one, the fish crow, both wholly black, and both equally adept at strange sounds. They are present in our area, but are not so common as the crow. If you know their normal calls, you can tell them all apart.

This year some crows have been coming to my suet feeders for the first time, clinging to the small vinyl holder with wings beating furiously for balance. This is another weird but welcome behavior. Crows are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything, including nestlings.

That is why you will often see a blackbird chasing a crow now, diving on its back to drive it away from the nest site. Kingbirds got their name from just such bold attacks on any passing bird, and they have the perfect, loud scolding call to go with this habit. Probably all species do this occasionally.

One morning a clear single note was loudly repeated outside my window. When I went out, there was the crow on a perch eyeing the suet, but nearby was a scolding oriole. Usually an oriole chatters when alarmed, but this single whistle note was new to me. The crow took off and was followed by the oriole, diving on him as he flew. If the crow can manage a swinging suet feeder, he may be able to hang on to the orioles usually unassailable nest.

There is no such thing as a weird bird, only clever behaviors you have not yet observed or understood.