Neighborhood Watch:
How Redwings Protect Their Babies
Background
Have you ever seen a small black bird chasing a hawk or a big black
bird through the sky? It happens a lot in spring and early summer. It's
part of the red-winged blackbird's "Neighborhood Watch" program.
Whenever any red-winged blackbird spots a potential predator flying anywhere
near its nesting marsh, it calls out a warning and flies off. Although
redwings chase hawks, they spend more of their energy chasing crows.
This is because most hawks don't raid nests, but crows DO! The redwing
usually stays behind the crow, dive-bombing it from above and behind.
Once Journey North science writer Laura Erickson even saw a redwing pull
out a crow's tail feather! This lesson will explain why red-winged blackbirds
chase crows, and give students a chance to conduct their own field studies
about crows and redwings.
From the Crow's Point of View
During spring and summer, crows raise three or four babies.
These babies need a lot of protein while they're growing. To get
this protein, crows pay a lot of attention to robins and blackbirds.
Adult songbirds can defend themselves against crows. Songbirds
are usually faster fliers so have no trouble escaping crows. But
nestling songbirds--and their eggs--are completely helpless. Tiny
birds like hummers, warblers, and sparrows often build their nests
on branches too skinny for a crow's big feet to grasp. But larger
species, like robins and blackbirds, make a sturdy nest that is
easy for crows to perch on while pulling out the babies. Baby robins
and blackbirds are a very important food source for nestling crows.
How Robins Deal with Crows
Robins nest on fairly large territories with a lot of trees
blocking their view. And robin nests are usually covered from above
by a branch or the top of a window case. Because of this, crows
don't notice robin nests while flying over, and robins don't notice
flying crows until they're right overhead. Crows are more likely
to spot a robin nest when hanging out in the area and paying attention
to the adult robins coming and going. So when a pair of robins
starts nesting, their strategy for dealing with crows is to be
very quiet and inconspicuous around the nest in hopes that crows
won't discover it. If a crow DOES come close, the robins squawk
loudly. They dive-bomb the crow and do everything in their power
to drive the crow away. Their loud calls attract other robins (and
blue jays and other species), which come to help them "mob" the
crow. Sometimes this drives the crow away.
How Redwings Deal with Crows
Red-winged blackbirds nest in big colonies in marshes. Usually there are
no trees to block a wide view of the sky. Each male redwing has a small
territory in the marsh, like a human backyard, but the neighborhood has
a LOT of nests. Many of these are at least a little visible from above.
To defend their territory, male redwings spend a lot of time perched at
the top of cattails. If one spots a crow in the sky, a male redwing will
instantly fly up and dart at the crow rather than risk the crow getting
close and noticing nest locations. The crow may still fly directly over
the marsh, but the distraction of the redwing flying at him may very well
keep the crow from noticing where the nests are. Any redwing who notices
the crow will take action, and overall this helps ALL the redwings to protect
their eggs and babies from crows.
Try This! Discussion and Field
Experiments
1. Discussion Questions
What are some advantages and disadvantages for redwings using
their time and energy to chase crows? List as many as you can, then
compare your list to the one
we came up with. If you came up with some good ones we missed,
let us know!!
2. Field Experiments
- Sit or stand in the schoolyard, your own yard, or a redwing
marsh with a clock, stopwatch, or wristwatch and your field notebook.
Count every time you spot a crow. If the crow is perched or flying
over, only count it once. It must leave your field of view for
at least 10 seconds for you to count the same crow again. How
many crows do you see in 5 minutes? If different students try
this at different times of day, how do the crow numbers compare?
- Sit at the edge of a redwing nesting marsh for 15 minutes with
your field notebook. Try to keep track of what the redwings are
doing, and what things in their world are important to them,
and take notes. While you're watching, pay attention to any crows
flying overhead, and see what happens if a redwing notices a
crow. Try to write down everything the redwings do. Be careful
to distinguish between the birds' actions and what you think
these actions may mean.
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