I’m no evolutionary biologist, but while I would agree that dodging hawks may
be in the genes of small birds, Great Britain does have accipiters, so the
“memory” may go way, way back. I would be surprised if house sparrows didn’t
have it.
Judy Lundquist
Anderson County
From: birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of Stephen Tyson
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2019 7:48 AM
To: smarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Bird KY
Subject: [birdky] Re: Sharp-shinned hawk meal (not KY)
Scott and all,
We have an abundance of Cooper’s Hawks here and have lots of opportunity to
observe how the little guys react to them. It seems like, across the range of
native feeder bird species, they seem to instantly recognize “hawk”, no matter
what bird “language” the alarm is spoken in. Most react instantly, as though
the hawk-alarm language is universal. I may be wrong, but I have trouble
believing that this is learned behavior, across species. I’ve wondered if it’s
in their genetic programming, a gift from countless generations of coexistence
with North American Accipiters. The House Sparrow may not have this “hawk”
alarm “word” in its old-world genetic programming.
Stephen Tyson, Schochoh, Logan Co.
On Dec 11, 2019, at 1:03 PM, Marsh, Scott <smarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It appears he selected the sparrow to begin with. I wonder about the reason,
slower bird, tastier, or the hawk feels the same way about house sparrows and
Mike does.
From: birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of mikesindahouse
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2019 10:01 PM
To: mickhead23@xxxxxxx
Cc: birdky <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [birdky] Re: Sharp-shinned hawk meal (not KY)
Nice! If you play it back in slow motion you can see the chickadee saw it
coming and got out of harms way.
Instead the hawk grabbed the House Sparrow. I guess sometimes it is nice having
them at your feeders! Lol.
Thanks,
Mike Callan
502-592-7008
On Dec 10, 2019, at 9:05 PM, Gerald Souder <mickhead23@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Thought this may be of interest. Not mine, someone in Minnesota posted it to
YT today.
https://youtu.be/BDgnyf592Vg ;(22 seconds)
Jake Souder
Louisville
