Learning Bird Language on your own

[black_kissa]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on learning Bird Language on your own... it seems to me that almost every other aspect of tracking is easier on your own than this...

To be sure, with "Bird Language" I refer to what the birds are telling you, rather than what species they are. E.g. at the workshop I taught recently we found that only after the buzzard which was circling our area had left, did the treetop birds start making noise again. In other words, their silence told us that there was a danger.
Of course in many cases alarm is made by sound, but sometimes they also tell you things with their body language.

At the workshop, we sat in a circle of some 40 m diameter and just sat and listened for half an hour, then shared our experiences. I'm always amazed at how much we miss that others do hear (and vice versa . This is one of the problems I run into - you don't know what you're missing!

I feel happy when I start to understand what the birds tell me - mostly because it makes me feel more at home - but it is also very practical and sometimes it saves me a lot of energy!

Live and Love,
Anneke

 

[Stuart]

I hope my reply is not taken negatively as that is not my intent

we found that only after the buzzard which was circling our area had left, did the treetop birds start making noise again. In other words, their silence told us that there was a danger.

it seems likely that the bird circling was either NOT a buzzard (a Goshawk perhaps) or something else was keeping the birds quiet.

I Know very little about tracking and less about bird language, but as a austringer (a person who hunts with hawks) I get to see first hand the reactions of animals to the close proximity of a Raptor.

tree dwelling birds do not fall silent in the presence of a buzzard, they appear aware that the buzzard is of no danger to them and conversely crows will deliberately attack buzzards that stray to close.

what never ceases to amaze me is the species recognition that birds seem to posses, whilst they have no fear of a buzzard seemingly aware that it is incapable of catching them they recognise any type falcon in an instant.

when I take a walk with my harris hawk the local birds treat him the same as they would a buzzard, Harris hawks native to America, how do the birds here know that he is not a threat to them

I often fly my hawk in a near by quarry, the quarry is also used by a falconer who lives in the area, when my hawk is up most birds (except pigeons who freeze or fly) go about their daily activities without change stopping only to alarm call (its more of a mocking scream directed at him than an alarm call) the moment the falconer make an appearance and puts his bird to flight everything changes, birds in the distance go ballistic with alarm calls and those nearby fall silent and get out of the airspace.

it also indicates that its time for me to go home, as the two raptors seriously dislike each other and aerial combat is usually the result of any proximity

 

[black_kissa]

I hope my reply is not taken negatively as that is not my intent

it seems likely that the bird circling was either NOT a buzzard (a Goshawk perhaps) or something else was keeping the birds quiet.

On the contrary, Stuart, thanks for your thoughts! I did see the Buzzard, but it might have been that there was another raptor in the area. The buzzard circled slowly in one direction, then came back. Maybe it drove somthing else away...
It was also calling 'meowing' (or what would you call that?) most of the time.

Yes, I have seen crows attack Buzzards several times, beautiful how they stay just out of reach of those talons and beak!

what never ceases to amaze me is the species recognition that birds seem to posses, whilst they have no fear of a buzzard seemingly aware that it is incapable of catching them they recognise any type falcon in an instant.

And not just species recognition, but also individuals... (of any species). E.g. Blackbirds will know which of the neighborhood cats is no threat and which one is, and their responses will vary accordingly: for the no-threat one no or only a very slight alarm is given and they hardly move, while for the hunter-cat a fierce alarm is sounded and they fly up to a height that the cat can't reach...

On the other hand it's not really strange - don't we know our neighbors and their habits? Well maybe not, but if some of them are a real threat, then awareness goes up many notches!


So thanks for sharing your experiences!

Live and Love,
Anneke