Today I was watching the birds on my balcony and noticed one bird who was hunchbacked. He was following after a smaller bird - definitely not the same species, perhaps a sparrow. I was amazed to see that the little one was getting seeds and feeding the larger bird. This went on for about half an hour with the little one flying back and forth from the feeder with food which the larger one eagerly accepted. The hunchback bird obviously wasn't doing well - it made no response when my cat rushed at the sliding glass door to scare it and it had a problem balancing on the railing. The phone called me away so I never saw when they left. Has anyone seen anything like this behavior? I did google the hunchback and saw there were other unfortunate birds like that so I don't think this poor bird will last long. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo - my 85-year old hands aren't steady.
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Extraordinary behavior! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter cbrundage
- Start date
dantheman
Bah humbug
Are you in the USA?
Brown-headed Cowbird or maybe another brood parasite species? It's a young bird being fed by the parent - it may be doing ok for what it as as young birds do have poor balance and lack of fear of predators.
I am in North Carolina so that is a possibility! Never thought of that! But the hunched back would be a separate issue then.
Xelioszzapporro!
Pineal Gland
Seems a bit outlandish actually. Birds immediately fly away when they detect cats very near them.
Perhaps it was blind or had diminished flying capabilities.
Perhaps it was blind or had diminished flying capabilities.
dantheman
Bah humbug
It's a baby ...
dantheman
Bah humbug
Young birds do appear more hunched, but that does look more extreme ...
Xelioszzapporro!
Pineal Gland
Plenty of babies from various bird species are aware of predators.
For example the Upupa Epops baby nestlings literally projectile their own feces to snakes.
pianoman
duck and diver, bobolink and weaver
Size, shape, bill and coloration do look OK for Brown Headed Cowbird, which would explain one half of the conundrum anyway. Maybe its condition is not as bad as it looks. Thinking about it, it must have got to the top of the railing of its own accord at any rate.
dantheman
Bah humbug
Yes, and didn't mean to sound patronising there at all ... ;-)
What I mean, it's clearly an immature (or baby)* bird and as such and from the OPs description, in common with most perching birds the first few days out of the nest whilst still being fed by the parents, they are still pretty clumsy, and don't differentiate when a predator comes onto the scene - these are I guess partially learned behaviours, partly still working out their musculature etc.
*(fluffed up, being fed by an adult bird.)
I saw a very similar thing last Saturday at cedar Rock park in NC. I was trying to ID a brown-grey bird on a limb. As I approached to get a closer look, the bird didn't move, but definitely saw me. As I watched, a much smaller bird (vireo?) hopped up to and fed it a grub. I actually forgot about this until I got home later that night and went through my notes. After digging around the internet, I realized the larger bird was a baby (brood parasite). At first I thought it was a Black billed Cuckoo, but Cowbird is more likely. Not sure how common it is to see this, but after reading OP's post, I'm relieved that someone else in NC has witnessed this behavior. I'm thinking the "baby" bird in your case may not be injured, just too young to know the ropes.
