There’s no place like home for the holidays. That’s what the birds are thinking about your backyard. For many of them, your home is their home. With a cup of eggnog in one hand and binoculars in the other, maybe this is a good time to get to know your neighbors.
How do your backyard chickadees react to you? Normally, you are just part of the scenery to them. They don’t perceive you as a threat unless you do something unexpected. Moving slowly, how close can you get before the nearest chickadee complains? If you’re encroaching, that chick-a-dee-dee-dee-ing is meant for you, scolding you and warning others. If you back away, how quickly does the alarm cease? It’s actually rather fun to figure out what your relationship is with them.
I admit, I get a little peeved when I go outside to fill the feeder and a chickadee scolds me. “I’m doing this for you, you little twerp!” Red-breasted nuthatches are more tolerant. They’ll land on the feeder while I’m filling it. White-breasted nuthatches are more reticent. They’ll perch nearby, waiting for me to finish. Titmice? Same thing.
Blue jays are wary. Even though we are part of each other’s world, they won’t let you get too close. Cardinals are less shy. They’ll stand their ground from a safe perch and mutter call notes at intruders.
Try it with woodpeckers. Which tolerates closer approach: downy, hairy or pileated woodpeckers? All are bold, but hairy woodpeckers are boldest. If I’m sitting on my deck, they’ll perch close and look me over. As I fill the suet feeder, they’ll sit 5 feet away and wait, sometimes calling out their impatience. Downy woodpeckers scarcely notice me until I get to within 20 feet. Pileated woodpeckers are the largest, and they don’t seem timid, but they scram if I get within 40 feet.
All birds in your backyard are tolerant of people, or else they wouldn’t stay. Observing what birds tolerate and how they react is informative and amusing. Most of the time, I’m not intentionally encroaching. Instead, I like to share the yard without disturbing them, so I routinely pay attention to see when I’ve gotten too close. I try to stay outside that zone. It varies by species.
I do know people who cozy up to birds, feeding them by hand. It takes loads of patience, but birds can become habituated to people when food is involved. I haven’t tried it. I’m reluctant to alter bird behavior. It’s best if my backyard birds remain vigilant for cats, hawks and other threats, so I try not to be a distraction.
I may make an exception for common redpolls, small finches that come south to Maine in winter. They have little fear of people. I know of birders who have sprinkled themselves with seed and allowed the redpolls to feed off their bodies. I haven’t tried that yet, but I would. My wife finds the idea disgusting. C’mon, how much can they poop on you?
Indeed, many northern invaders don’t recognize people as threats. They don’t even recognize people as people. We may as well be furniture. Pine grosbeaks have been popping into berry bushes all over the state this month. I discovered a flock of them eating crabapples next to the Burger King in Orono last week. You can walk right up to them. In the remote northern areas where they breed, they have not encountered humans and have no reason to fear us. I estimate I can get to about 10 feet before the closest bird will shift branches. I don’t ever remember a flock flying off in panic, though I haven’t really tested it. I stop approaching at the first sign the birds notice me.
Northern owl species also appear tame. When any of the snowy, great gray or northern hawk-owls come down from the arctic on a rare visit, they glance at people, then ignore them. We are not of their world. We are neither predator nor prey, and thus we are of no consequence. To be sure, we can crowd them and discomfort them, so it’s still best to avoid getting too close.
A lifetime fascination for birding develops in three phases. Learning to identify birds is the first skill. Finding them is the second. Observing bird behavior is the third. Every species has an ecological niche and a strategy for survival. Thus, every species behaves differently. Step outside and see for yourself.
Bob Duchesne serves as vice president of Maine Audubon’s Penobscot Valley Chapter. He developed the Maine Birding Trail, with information at mainebirdingtrail.com. He can be reached at duchesne@midmaine.com.