Listen to the Alarms

[meowmensteen]

One thing I've learned about birding is that they often "tell" you when bigger birds are around. If you hear a lot of birds making their alarm sounds, it's a good idea to get out and look for what they're alarming about. This happened to me yesterday. I was sitting in my living room when I heard a bunch of crow going crazy outside. I looked out and saw them dive-bombing a nearby telephone pole. On top of the pole was a Red-Tailed Hawk. By the time I got outside with my camera, the hawk was in flight being chased by the crows:


I ended up over-exposing the shot since everything happened so fast. Birds don't wait for me to set my camera right haha.

Surprisingly one kind of bird alarm that helps me spot big birds is the Hummingbird alarm. Those little guys are pugnacious, and will go after the biggest birds. They once helped me spot a Barred Owl. Those little birds were alarming and zipping all around the owl trying their best to irritate it into leaving.

The Oregon Juncos in my back yard often tell me when a Jay or Cooper's Hawk is in the area.

Does anyone else have a story about how a bird alarm helped you spot a cool predator bird?

Comments

[narya_flame]

That's such a cool experience! Thank you for sharing.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here at Fieldhaven we had an epic, season-long battle between the crows and a great-horned owl. I've got ~2 acres of wildlife habitat in the midst of unexciting monocrops, with big old trees that make nice perches: territory worth fighting over. I found out about this situation because the crows were freaking out, so I went to see what the fuss was about, and they flushed the owl.

They chased that poor owl around and around the yard. For months. I'd go outside, the crows would be screaming, and I'd see the owl somewhere.

I think the owl eventually won, or at least, I haven't heard crows freaking out in a while and I still see owls or spot pellets occasionally.

One thing that interests me about alarm calls is how many different bird species use the same or very similar ones: a short sharp whistle, "wheet!" sometimes with an extra "tu-wheet!" on front. It's loud, carrying, and easy to produce. Another advantage is when so many birds use the same word for "danger" then it's easier to spread the news.