Pecking Order and the Mob

When a redbelly comes by, everything else scatters
 (Margo D. Beller)

Not long after putting out the house-shaped feeder the other morning, a male cardinal came by for a few seeds. He was soon followed by three house finches, two of them male. They sat atop the feeder while the cardinal sat and ate. One of the male house finches found its way to the other side of the feeder and started to eat, until a female downy woodpecker showed up and chased him off. She grabbed her seed and flew off to either eat it or hide it somewhere for another time. The house finch tried again, only to be chased off by the returning downy.

Meanwhile, the cardinal stayed put and pecked at the other house finches if they tried to take a seed from his side. When he would grab a seed and jump up on top of the feeder pole to eat - his usual habit - he would quickly jump down and chase off the finches if they came down for seeds. It was only when the larger, more aggressive blue jay came in that the cardinal left, along with the finches. When the jay flew off, the finches returned. A female cardinal came to eat on the other side from where the jay had been. She, however, allowed the house finches to grab seeds and take off.

Titmouse about to be chased off by a white-breasted nuthatch
(Margo D. Beller)

Then the titmice started arriving, grabbing seeds and flying off between visits by the jay. Finally, a redbellied woodpecker flew in, scattering the female cardinal and the smaller birds, including some house sparrows and juncos that had been attracted to my yard by all the action.

Why am I detailing this?

Because it illustrates two different types of bird behavior - the pecking order and mobbing.

Cornell University's Ornithology Lab published an interesting article at the end of 2018 about which birds are "top dog" when many converge on the same feeder. (Pecking orders are also found within the same bird species, but that's a topic for another post.) Usually, size matters, as the example of the male cardinal chasing off the house finches shows. Sex might matter, too, as shown by the female cardinal that was not as aggressive toward the house finches as her mate.

Cooper's hawk looking for
birds at the feeder
(Margo D. Beller)

However, behavior is also important. Jays are more aggressive than cardinals and sometimes even woodpeckers, in my observations. Small titmice and chickadees will hang back but then zip in and grab a seed to take elsewhere when given an opportunity. The small white-breasted nuthatch will take a seed and go, but it will also chase out slightly larger birds and sometimes spread its wings and try to make itself look bigger to keep other birds away when it is trying to get a seed.

As for the feeder mobbing, to me it seems when a big, colorful bird - jay, cardinal, redbelly - comes to the feeder, this is when all the other, smaller birds in the area want to show up and then start mobbing the feeders once the bigger birds are gone. In my example, this is what happened when the house sparrows and juncos showed up. It is a sort of feeding frenzy where these birds may fear getting nothing with the big guys around and so rush in en masse once they get a chance.

At some point, when the cardinals, jays and woodpeckers must've had their fill, the house sparrows and house finches, which will sit and eat and do little else, must've come back because I found the feeder nearly empty when I took it in at night. It is the reason why, until this recent mild weather, I usually put out at least one other feeder that only small birds can use to let them eat when the bigger birds swoop in.

Of course, when the raptors show up for a meal they aren't looking for seed, they're looking for the birds at my feeder. Then the mob disperses and the pecking order is forgotten for the moment.