Washington Post Analysis | Which birds are the biggest jerks at the feeder? A massive data analysis reveals the answer.

[Marcia Watson]

The Washington Post analyzed data from Project FeederWatch to produce an analysis of dominance behavior among birds at feeders. The article is in layman’s terms and is easy to read. Oddly, at least online, the article is in the Post’s Business section.

"According to an analysis of almost 100,000 bird interactions, big birds like crows are the kings and queens of the feeder, but scrappy mockingbirds and woodpeckers punch above their weight. Doves do not."

Read it here (this link should work even if you don’t have a subscription): https://wapo.st/3d1Hnre

Marcia
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Marcia Watson
Bowie, MD

[sus...@verizon.net]

Great article Marcia.  House, Purple, Junco is the new rock, paper, scissors.  

I am a bit surprised by a few of the rankings and observations.  My Carolina Wrens are very dominant.  Perhaps it is because they have built their nest close to the feeder and are territorial for that as well.  

Also, they forgot the real numbers 1 and 2: Cooper’s and Sharpies. At least here in Maryland they will clear a feeder out quick.  Don’t know about the turkeys, chachalacas and whistling ducks :-) .

David Gersten

Silver Spring, MD


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[Jim Felley]

One item that confused me a bit.  My impression is that these results come from examination of pairwise interactions between species.  Where did they find Black-capped and Carolina chickadees interacting in numbers, and who made the identifications?

Jim

Jim Felley

Gaithersburg, MD

[Haninah Levine]

Regarding hawks, the article notes that they excluded predators, in order to track only competition, not predation.

Regarding chickadees, I suspect that the difference in ranking is nominal, and was probably based on something other than head-to-head competition - one species had a marginally higher score from interactions with other species, probably well within the margin of error.

I also thought some of the results were surprising, especially for house sparrows. Like starlings, I find that these aggressive invaders dominate just about anything short of a corvid.

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[Jim Felley]

I imagine you're right about the chickadees.  I paged through the scores of the top 100 birds.  It seems like western birds are over-represented at the more dominant (jerkier) end of the list.  I wonder what is going on out west?  Have our eastern birds just learned to not be jerks and to go along to get along?

Jim

Jim Felley

Gaithersburg, MD

[Les Eastman]

As a former Maryland birder now living in the Arizona desert, I am not so sure the western birds are ranked correctly. I have never considered the Gambel's Quail ( Number 4 on the list) particularly aggressive towards other species. All the disputes I have seen were with other Gambel's Quail. Abert's Towhee ( Number 18 ) is very secretive at my feeders and I have never seen them interact with other birds. Gilded Flicker is not even on the list but they will certainly knock the Gila Woodpeckers ( Number 9 ) off the suet.

Les

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Les Eastman
mailto:l...@birdtreks.com
Fountain Hills, AZ

"I used to be with it, but then they changed what *it* was. 
Now what I'm with isn't *it*, and what's *it* seems weird 
and scary to me. It'll happen to you..."
Grandpa Simpson

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Les

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Les Eastman
mailto:l...@birdtreks.com
Fountain Hills, AZ

"I used to be with it, but then they changed what *it* was. 
Now what I'm with isn't *it*, and what's *it* seems weird 
and scary to me. It'll happen to you..."
Grandpa Simpson