Hi,

Along these lines yesterday was an interesting case in point.  An adult
make Coop was hanging out in the Redbud just out my front window.  Less
that 10 feet from the feeder there.  Astonishingly the Titmice and
Chickadees were using the feeder, albeit with an abundance of caution first
flying to a perch above the hawk then to the feeder.  The hawk was not
interested in the nearby birds and kept looking out at a distance.  He took
off 3 times in different directions during the on and off times I was
watching.

I think his tactic may have been a head on attack on birds approaching the
feeder from afar.

On the other hand I've seen the female Sharpie in the same general location
and she will go into the shrubs after the birds. No one uses the feeder
when she's around.

Haans
41.59 °N, 81.36 °W  Elevation 1083 MSL

On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 9:51 AM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: Bird behavior study
> Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 09:30:59 -0500
> From: Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Much as we all welcome hearing repeated reports that X species was found
> at Y location, I fervently hope Ohio birders will more often provide
> other information that the rest of us will welcome.
>        Once you've provided us with X and Y, let us know more about how the
> birds are behaving. If you want to tell folks how to add to their
> state/county/year lists, fine, but remember these data are evanescent
> and personal, ultimately not as informative as they could be. Who will
> care in a hundred years?
>        I hope Ohio birders are not just doing "stamp-collecting,"
> accumulating
> three data--species, date, and locality--for birds observed. We all see
> things more worthy of sharing with others. I just was reading a great
> book, "Curious Naturalists," by Niko Tinbergen, where I found that
> careful observation of behavior can be far more interesting than
> listing. It is available online at
> https://ucscfieldexperience.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/
> curious-naturalists-niko-tinbergen1958.pdf
> , and you can pick it up for fifty cents in used-book stores. In it you
> can get some ideas about what you can learn in the field, and how what
> you learn can be of lasting interest for others, if you just sit and
> notice and record things instead of ticking and running. I'm sure
> publications like the Ohio Cardinal would be interested in behavioral
> observations.
>        I'm not opposed to listing, or bird records--I have accumulated and
> published them for years--but the work of naturalists like Tinbergen,
> Lorenz, and Ohio's own Margaret Nice is captivating and inspiring. If
> you get interested in how common tree sparrows behave in Ohio in winter,
> do some work on it, it will be of more lasting interest than all the
> shrikes you ticked.
> Bill Whan
>
>
>
>
>
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