jespah@milton.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt) (11/26/90)
From: stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com (Dick St.Peters) *Since chickadees seem to be much in the news, what (if any) other bird *species, particularly Eastern US species, can be hand fed in the wild *by a patient person? Seems to me that if you are *really* patient, there are very often a few individual birds that are calm enough to take to handfeeding, even of often shy species. There's a female red-winged blackbird at the U.W. boathouse who will hop onto your hand and grab some food, but only if you're a member of the rowing club. I don't know if you'd consider this "the wild", though. She is technically a wild bird. She occasionally wanders right into the boathouse and looks around at the people panting and puffing on the rowing machines, and then she apparently gets bored and wanders out again. Crows, of course, are great scavengers, and last week a Common Crow (Northwestern) took a Tater Tot from my hand. Hardly the best food, but it seemed pleased. One of the grad students here studied scrub jays for a couple years. He said one of the jays got so tame it would hop on to his hand and take food that he was holding in his *teeth*. He has a photo of this same bird, standing on his hand, with its whole head and half its body inside this guy's *mouth*, where he had some food for it. Weird guy. Great photo. One of the profs at U.Wisconsin, Jack Hailman, studies scrub jays and chickadees. He mentioned to me last year that he was thinking of doing a study on "tameness", since he has noticed that even in the wildest areas, some jays and chickadees seem to be pretty much tame already, while others remain wary no matter how long you coax them. He was wondering if this is partially genetic. I don't know if he's going ahead with this or not. I also read in Birdwatcher's Digest about .... I forget what kind of owl.... Someone in Canada somewhere had gotten very familiar with a local owl, and would go out in the woods at night and hold up a dead mouse or bit of meat, and the owl would swoop down and grab it. Then, of course, there are all the gulls, ducks, & pigeons. What I love doing is standing on a beach with the wind blowing on my back, and a whole flock of ring-billed gulls hovering in front of me (since they have a headwind), while I toss bread or whatnot into the wind. They *always* catch it! They are so precise! They just swoop a little bit and gulp it down. Plus it is such fun to have flying birds hovering there at my fingertips. Plus I really like ring-bills -- they have such pretty voices and are so elegant- looking compared to Herring Gulls.... Jespah
teexmmo@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) (11/28/90)
Here in London, sparrows will feed from your hand, either hovering, or landing on your hand. "Ground baiting" (chucking food up demonstratively) helps, and it helps if they can see the food in your hand from the ground, (or whereeever they are perching). Sparrows are very gregarious, and some small flocks are much tamer than others. Particular places in parks are good, and at the tables of outdoor cafes the best. (They get used to foraging near people). Also at outdoor cafes, a few blackbirds will take food from your hand. Grey squirrels (not exactly a bird) will feed from your hand in many parks, and will also climb your trouser leg to take a nut, and then hang head down, by the rear legs, while they eat it. (They also do this in trees sometimes - hang head down that is). The robin (_not_ the American bird, which is actually a type of thrush) is reputed to be very bold in winter, feeding from hands etc. The London pigeons are tame enough that catching enough for dinner would easy on a regular basis.
cbar20@vaxa.strath.ac.uk (11/29/90)
In article <1990Nov27.173242.27735@ioe.lon.ac.uk>, teexmmo@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) writes: > > Also at outdoor cafes, a few blackbirds will take food from your hand. > > > The robin (_not_ the American bird, which is actually a type of > thrush) is reputed to be very bold in winter, feeding from hands etc. > > The London pigeons are tame enough that catching enough for dinner > would easy on a regular basis. While camping in Glencoe this July we found that a male chaffinch would actually fly down and try to steal the food we were eating. It seemed to like pitta bread. Graham Simpson Strathclyde University
annmh@blake.u.washington.edu (Ann Harrington) (11/30/90)
On this thread of feeding wild birds, I have a simple question: Should you? I can't believe I've gotten into this argument, but I have, and I want to know what the net.concensus is. My opponent argues that birds that beg from humans out in the wilderness should not be fed because it detracts from their desire/ability to seek food in other ways and thus endangers their survival, say, when there are no more humans around with food (winter, etc.). Oddly, he doesn't feel this way about backyard birdfeeders. I say it doesn't do any harm, because if humans provide enough food to completely support a bird then he's fine, and if they don't and he can't figure out how to get other food, he wouldn't still be there to be begging. What do you bird experts out there say? -Ann annmh@blake.u.washington.edu
mikeq@freddy.CNA.TEK.COM (Quigley) (12/01/90)
Out in the wilderness in our part of the country, grey jays and
Clark's nutcrackers readily take food from your hand. In fact, they
agressively beg for it.
I once had a nutcracker snatch a whole chicken leg out of my hand
and fly off with it! I wonder if he knew that he was eating a
cousin?
Mike