The Naturalist's Companion by Dave Hall

Author:Dave Hall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

It took almost a week for me to figure out the mystery of an alarming robin during a family visit to Cape Cod. The cause of some alarms will become obvious with time, while many may remain a mystery for a lifetime. (iStock/donyanedomam)

In the summer of 2015, I spent a week on Cape Cod, where my parents had rented a house in celebration of their fiftieth wedding anniversary. The residence was set on a beautiful property, the back lawn sloping down toward a pond bustling with the activity of amphibians and small fish. This particular house was nestled in a historic neighborhood marked by unkempt hedges, old trees, and wetlands. Although we were in civilization, the neighborhood had a decidedly feral appeal.

On our first day there, I tuned in to the incessant alarming of a robin. I made my way across the porch, hoping to interpret her call. As I drew closer, I was unable to see anything that would elicit such a response. The thick underbrush and hedges between properties made it difficult to see. I crept onto the lawn and made my way along the edge of the property but was still completely uncertain. Over the course of the week I heard this robin several more times, but I was unable to determine the cause of her distress. I began to wonder if this event would remain a mystery.

During our final day at the Cape, I once again heard the robin’s call—this time from a large tree in the front yard. The house where we were staying was built around a windmill that was once used to draw groundwater to feed the property, and from inside the house I made my way to the top of the windmill’s spiral staircase. Through a large open window I found myself exchanging glances with the robin that had eluded me all week. She had a mouthful of insects and continued to alarm with hardly a break. Why, I wondered, did she have a beak full of insects? And why was she alarming? Then it all suddenly made sense.

The robin was pointing to the answer. In a towering spruce, perched at the same height, was a red-tailed hawk. After about thirty minutes, the hawk flew away. The robin ceased alarming and fluttered into a nearby thicket.

If you aren’t sure whether what you are seeing and/or hearing from birds is an alarm, ask these questions:

·Are multiple birds or bird species involved?

·Are the calls sharp, loud, and intense, or have the birds gone quieter?

·Are you seeing mobbing, where multiple birds act in concert in an attempt to bring attention to and/or drive off a predator?

·Are birds making a specific alarm in a specific way toward a specific predator?

Brian Mertins has an excellent article on bird alarms, complete with video clips, at his Nature Mentoring website (nature-mentor.com).

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