teexmmo@isis.educ.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) (04/06/90)
(Kehaar) writes: (Mark Reed) writes: >> >> In the last few days, robins have decided to attack my windows. This >> is new behavior for them. A couple of large windows have literally >> thousands of marks on them. Why? How can I stop them? (seems like >> it would be very painful for the birds!) >> >> Thanks! >> >What you are witnessing is an odd example of Robin territoriality called >"shadow boxing". All Robins possess an instinct that whenever they see a red >breast of a rival, they will unhesitatingly attack it. Studies have shown that even a stick with a clump of robin's-breast feathers placed in a Robin's and so on, a good summary. Further reading, an excellent book: Lack "The Life of the robin" (I might not have got the title quite right, but Lack is definitely the author). -- ><{ (`> <') }><
grp@magpie.unify.uucp (Greg Pasquariello) (04/06/90)
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Pasquariello (916) 920-9092 grp@unify.UUCP
Unify Corporation ...!{csusac, pyramid}!unify!grp
"I think I have a woodpecker!" - s. stroolgrp@magpie.unify.uucp (Greg Pasquariello) (04/06/90)
(sorry about the blank posting...)
In article <1990Apr4.215834.3480@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kehaar) writes:
An interesting side note is that Robins seem to be aware of this instinct,
because they will deliberately avoid facing each other breast-to-breast
on communal feeding grounds (where many Robins get together to feed together)!
R. Cody Buchmann ^.^
This is an interesting observation. I never really noticed it before, but now
that you mention it, it seems somewhat obvious! Next flock of robins I see,
I'll have to look for this. Thanks.
-Greg
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Pasquariello (916) 920-9092 grp@unify.UUCP
Unify Corporation ...!{csusac, pyramid}!unify!grp
"I think I have a woodpecker!" - s. stroolJAHAYES@MIAMIU.BITNET (04/06/90)
The robins might not see the windows very well--a couple of things
have changed recently. First, the light is probably getting a
bit different from day to day and the reflections that cued them
in before might not be as visible. Second, they're involved in
mating battles, involving lots of high-speed zigzag flying, and
in the heat of the moment might just hit the glass because they're
paying attention to other things, like that other robin nipping
at the ol' tail feathers....
In Panama we pasted a couple of hawk silhouettes up on the windows
of the very glassy apartment we lived in there. This deterred a
lot of birds, but the occasional pair would try to mob the "hawk"
and bend their bills a bit....the flycatchers there are also pretty
fierce and tended to spend lots of time fighting their reflections
in the partially silvered glass.... hope this helps.
-------
Josh Hayes, Zoology Department, Miami University, Oxford OH 45056
voice: 513-529-1679 fax: 513-529-6900
miamiu.bitnet (good)
/
jahayes@-miamiu.acs.muohio.edu (also good)
c
miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (not so good)hansen@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Steve Hansen) (04/07/90)
In article <GRP.90Apr6082131@magpie.unify.uucp> grp@magpie.unify.uucp (Greg Pasquariello) writes: ... >In article <1990Apr4.215834.3480@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kehaar) writes: > > An interesting side note is that Robins seem to be aware of this instinct, > because they will deliberately avoid facing each other breast-to-breast > on communal feeding grounds (where many Robins get together to feed together)! > > R. Cody Buchmann ^.^ > >This is an interesting observation. I never really noticed it before, but now >that you mention it, it seems somewhat obvious! Next flock of robins I see, >I'll have to look for this. Thanks. > >-Greg >-- >------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Greg Pasquariello (916) 920-9092 grp@unify.UUCP >Unify Corporation ...!{csusac, pyramid}!unify!grp > "I think I have a woodpecker!" - s. strool There may be another explanation for such behavior. They could be facing in different directions simply because any two robins are more likely to be facing in different directions than towards each other. Additionally, they may turn in a different direction to avoid feeding in the same area as another robin. Have you conducted an experiment or controlled observation to determine the reason that the robins point in different directions? If not, do you know of a paper which documents such research? Just curious. Happy birding, Steve Hansen, Manhattan, Kansas hansen@harris.cis.ksu.edu
christ@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Chris Thompson) (04/08/90)
In article <261D04DA.4173@deimos.cis.ksu.edu> hansen@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Steve Hansen) writes: >In article <GRP.90Apr6082131@magpie.unify.uucp> grp@magpie.unify.uucp (Greg Pasquariello) writes: >... >>In article <1990Apr4.215834.3480@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kehaar) writes: >> >> An interesting side note is that Robins seem to be aware of this instinct, >> because they will deliberately avoid facing each other breast-to-breast >> on communal feeding grounds (where many Robins get together to feed together)! >> >> R. Cody Buchmann ^.^ >> >>This is an interesting observation. I never really noticed it before, but now >>that you mention it, it seems somewhat obvious! Next flock of robins I see, >>I'll have to look for this. Thanks. >> >>-Greg > >There may be another explanation for such behavior. They could be facing in >different directions simply because any two robins are more likely to be facing >in different directions than towards each other. Additionally, they may turn >in a different direction to avoid feeding in the same area as another robin. >Have you conducted an experiment or controlled observation to determine the >reason that the robins point in different directions? If not, do you know >of a paper which documents such research? Just curious. > >Happy birding, > >Steve Hansen, Manhattan, Kansas >hansen@harris.cis.ksu.edu Also, there is an increased chance of one bird spotting an approaching predator, if they're facing in different directions. Likely, though, as in many other cases, it is probably a mistake to ascribe only one reason for any trait an animal exhibits, since natural selection works on the entire organism. So it's probably a combination of everything we can think of, plus a few others! Chris -- "Never count a human dead until you've seen the body. And even then you can make a mistake". -Lady Fenring