Rude? Why?

RUDE BIRD BEHAVIOUR - WHY?
We enjoyed for years watching the winter activities at our bird feeders from the farm house window. I had converted an old picnic table to a spacious bird feeder by placing plywood strips around the perimeter. I could pour large amounts of wildbird feed and cracked corn on the table and it would stay within the confines of the plywood borders. I had used chicken wire and bent it into a circular shape after putting a half pound of margarine into it. All kinds of birds came to our feeders including squirrels. Rude behaviour was commonplace. Let me explain. Part way through the feeding exertions of the smaller birds a pair of colourful bluejays would often arrive, sometimes two or three pairs of them, and muscle their way to the centre of the feeding table. We watched on occasion as a larger pair of jays landed and took over the area where most of the feed had been dumped.
In the wire cage where the margarine or suet was suspended the black-capped chickadees would flee to a nearby branch when a pair of downy woodpeckers took over. Nuthatches would await their turns. Again this was a common occurrence during the winter season but some of us as witnesses to such behaviour might say, "How rude of those larger birds!"
nuthatch at a feeder
Kevin Cook, a free lance nature writer, gives some insight as he contends two seasonal events may help to explain this phenomenon.
First, he says that many people report seeing "rude" behaviour among birds during winter months. Moreover, he continues, with the assumption that during winter people expect to see birds at feeders and thus notice bird behaviour more closely..
Secondly, seasonal flocking brings birds into proximity where they can act rudely to one another. Cook says that many bird species seasonally exchange their individual lifestyles for collective lifestyles. They flock together during winter even though they spend their spring and summer defending territories against their own kind. How come? Cook says that these behaviours contrast so starkly that one could imagine a great cosmic switch had been thrown somewhere. Switch on and the birds behave independently; switch off and the birds behave collectively. Yes, a cosmic switch does exist and is actually called photoperiodism.
WHAT IS THIS PHOTOPERIODISM?
The natural, God-given, process of photoperiodism has been recognized for countless centuries. The Bible talks about "evening being light." On about March 21st we have equal day and night and on about June 21st we have the greatest amount of daylight. Summer has arrived. Daily hours of daylight and darkness vary cyclically, and therefore predictably through a calendar year. With the exception of those species that inhabit caves and the great, dark depths of lakes and seas, earth life responds according to how much sunlight it absorbs.
With much exposure to sunlight an organism produces a certain set of hormones in higher quantities, and they dominate corresponding life functions. Make sense? As the supply of sunshine dwindles - Sept. 21st and then Dec. 21st, when the least amount of sunshine in our area is available, the hormonal balance shifts, causing changes in the bird's behaviour.
Kevin Cool contends that when you watch a pair of nesting robins chase away other robins, you are actually witnessing a cumulative response to a given supply of solar radiation. This supply steadily increases from the first day of winter. It teaches a critical point near the first day of spring, at which time the robins begin enjoying more hours of daylight time than of darkness. This flips the switch. The increasing sunlight stimulates the production of hormones that ultimately dictate a change in robin behaviour. The robins abandon their winter flocks, establish territories, mate and rear young. Think about it. After the first day of summer, the process reverses. Nights grow longer, days grow shorter. Each species maintains its own schedule in this cosmic calendar. Others respond sooner; others respond later. But they all respond one way or another.
What about some of our birds? There are many species that overwinter in our latitude that has autumn flips the flocking switch. A bird that aggressively chases its own kind gradually seeked the company of its own kind. Sometimes unrelated species flock together. A typical winter mix while I lived at the farm was downy woodpeckers. black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, ruby-crowned kinglets, juncos, tree sparrows, house finches and the occasional goldfinches.
Flocking occurs as intolerance gives way to tolerance. The European starling, red-winged blackbird, and common grackle can form flocks so large they boggle the mind. What is the largest flock of one species of birds that you have seen locally?
A few birds profit from flocking throughout the year. Locally colonies of ring-billed gulls find more survival value in being together than in being alone. I have observed turkey vultures for the past number of years and believe that when one turkey vulture is successful in finding food he attracts others to share the wealth. Perhaps in the same way that one starling at a feeder, however unwanted, nevertheless attracts other feeder birds.
You can correct me but do raptors flock? Hawks and eagles do their own thing, right? I was with Ernie Giles checking out three Great Horned Owls in a woods off Gilmore Road. Is that a flock or just parents with a young one? We know Short-eared owls do flock. Each year up to a 100 of these birds come through our Stevensville area scouring the fields for mice and voles in the daytime and dusk. As the daylight lengthens they will go their separate ways. The cycle continues on year after year.
Next time you see a bird acting "rudely" at your feeder remember "rude" behaviour may enhance survival. That's natural.