Study: Mockingbirds Can Tell People Apart, React

[elleng]

Mockingbirds may look pretty much alike to people, but they can tell us apart and are quick to react to folks they don't like. Birds rapidly learn to identify people who have previously threatened their nests and sounded alarms and even attacked those folks, while ignoring others nearby, researchers report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/2009/05/18/science/AP-US-SCI-Belligerent-Birds.html

[carpetbagger]

1. Neat stuff.

The lead author lives on my street, so I heard all the details as the thing was being cooked Where I used to work in Texas, I put a mockingbird chick back in its nest. It took months before I could come in that entrance without getting dive-bombed.

One thing I've heard a lot over the years about is dove behaviour around hunters, people with guns, etc., and I've always hoped someone would put some good methodology into studying bird memory and human identification on that front.

[elleng]

2. Very interesting.

Many seriously underestimate/dismiss/ignore animal intelligence. I'm FASCINATED by it! Had a cockatiel who, I observed, spent time figuring how to get around his 'area.'

[OnionPatch]

3. I'm not surprised.

And I'm sure it's not only mockingbirds, although they're intelligent birds. I sit on my glider on my deck daily, or do gardening chores right near it, sometimes for hours at a stretch. Only 8 feet above me is a nest of house finches and their babies. They hardly give me a glance as we go about our business, but if my husband comes out walking around they become agitated and nervous. You figure, if they can tell each other apart when they look identical, and they are obviously so sensitive to colors, it wouldn't be hard for them to tell people apart.

[Uben]

4. I have a mockingbird........

..that lives at my house. I see it every day! I have about five feeders in my water garden area. Redbirds, finches, tit mouse, wrens, bluejays and chicadees are abundant, and I occasionally spot a rarity passing through.

I have seen that mockingbird try to defend all the feeders at once. There was a group of chicadees also wanting to feed at the feeders, and everytime the mockingbird saw one of them try to steal a seed, he would fly to that feeder to scare them off. The chicadees would work as a team. Everytime the mockingbird flew to one feeder to scare one off, another would hit another feeder and steal a seed! It was quite comical to watch.