peanutbutter&chocolate
Well-known member
So the most common visitors to my feeder are House Finches, followed by Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches. The Finches are slobs and will sit there feasting for as long as possible while the Nuthatches will come grab what they want and fly off, the Chickadees seem to vary between the two behaviors. We get a bunch of birds that will gobble up what the Finches drop.
My Questions -
1. Do some birds (finches in this case) have hierarchies, at least when it comes to feeding? I've noticed that the older looking finches will chase off the younger ones and it seems like a particular pair have priority over the other adult finches.
2. Do nuthatches make caches like squirrels do? What about chickadees? I've watched nuthatches take something from the feeder, hop around on a tree for a minute or so then come straight back to the feeder. I think I've seen similar behavior from the chickadees? but I'm not sure there.
My Questions -
1. Do some birds (finches in this case) have hierarchies, at least when it comes to feeding? I've noticed that the older looking finches will chase off the younger ones and it seems like a particular pair have priority over the other adult finches.
2. Do nuthatches make caches like squirrels do? What about chickadees? I've watched nuthatches take something from the feeder, hop around on a tree for a minute or so then come straight back to the feeder. I think I've seen similar behavior from the chickadees? but I'm not sure there.