Just wondering. About birds behaviour
We know that when Noisy Miners or Lewin honeyeaters call out warning alarms we ( birdies )all look around for the predator.
For years I had this theory about Brown or Grey Goshawks as they move about. I have noticed that when I hear warning calls from fairy wrens and other birds that pee wees are high in the sky circling and hovering. Its a goshawk in stealth mode. Do the wrens and smaller birds use pee wees as a indicator of different types of predator danger?
As I do !
If it was a falcon the pee wee do not behave in this manner.
Has any body noticed this, or maybe take note next time you're out and about.
just want to kick this idea around.
Thanks Nightowl
Very interesting questions, Nightowl. Where I live it's the New Holland honeyeaters that send up the warning with a cacophony of calls. At least I think it's the New Holland honeyeaters which are first out of the blocks because they make the most noise. It may well be another species which isn't as numerous &/or loud. I can't say I've noticed pee wees (or mudlarks as we call them in SA) circling overhead when a brown goshawk is about.
What I have noticed is that there's a different call from New Holland honeyeaters when predators, especially brown goshawks, & snakes are about. Don't ask me to imitate the calls here (or anywhere else for that matter).
Hi Woko yes I to have noticed that birds have a different call for reptiles and raptors.
Nightowl
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
Noisy Miners and Grey Butcherbird in my hood that call in alarm.
Interesing discussion...
I certainly think birds use other birds to assist in detection of threats. In your case, it's a question of who's first - the pee wee or wrens?!!
I'm with Woko, it's NHHEs here that are my main indicators. I know their sudden, loud alarm call, and in my area that means brown / peregrine falcon is likely. They have a different call for what I call the more 'lingering threat' type birds, and in my area that means brown / white-phase grey goshawks, grey currawongs or grey butcherbirds.
Unfortunately re the pee-wee vs the wren first, I fear we are always the last to know and may rarely get the chance to see who gets in first. I dare say that honour is shared around. I don't hear our starlings in alarm, but I certainly see them wheeling upwards in tight, fast-flying groups when the NHHEs are alarmed re falcons. We don't get pee-wees in Tas (not generally anyway).
In any case, it certainly pays for us to know the local alarm calls even though the BOP / reptiles involved are not a threat to us, so it makes sense for the birds to keep an ear and eye out on everybody else as well I say!
Cheers,
Scott.