WEBVTT - Why Do Birds Mob?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff a production of I Heart Radio, Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lorn vogel bomb here. When you see adorable

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<v Speaker 1>little birds snacking on seeds at your bird feeder, or

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<v Speaker 1>flitting about like they're about to so a dress for Cinderella,

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<v Speaker 1>don't be fooled. Those birds will gang up and turn

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<v Speaker 1>on you in a tiny, fluttering heartbeat. When birds detect

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<v Speaker 1>a predator, they will start mobbing it. Mobbing here is

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<v Speaker 1>when small birds join together to fend off a larger bird,

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<v Speaker 1>the small and large being relative terms. Here. Crows will

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<v Speaker 1>band together to mob a hawk, and starlings will come

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<v Speaker 1>together to mob a crow. Say, a bird or maybe

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<v Speaker 1>a pair of birds, is near their nest of eggs

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<v Speaker 1>or hatchlings. When they spy a predator. It could be

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<v Speaker 1>an owl, or a cat, or even a human. The

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<v Speaker 1>little bird will let out a call of alarm that

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<v Speaker 1>alerts its squad. The squad arrives, and they physically mob

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<v Speaker 1>the predator. Sometimes birds join the mob not because they

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<v Speaker 1>heard the call, but because they saw other birds headed

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<v Speaker 1>for a mob. As studies have documented going back to

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen fifties, the birds have an arsenal of moves

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<v Speaker 1>at their disposal they can hop and flap in the

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<v Speaker 1>predator's face, they can dive bombit. They can even shove

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<v Speaker 1>it around a bit if they're feeling brave, and some

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<v Speaker 1>birds go for the full gross out factor by pooping

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<v Speaker 1>or puking on the predator while they're mobbing it. They aim,

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<v Speaker 1>and they can be very precise about it. Though. While

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<v Speaker 1>this is gross to us, who knows what hawks think

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<v Speaker 1>is disgusting, But all that wet globby stuff serves a

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<v Speaker 1>practical purpose too. It's sticky weight can ground the larger bird. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>hummingbirds in a nine study showed that they're quite aware

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<v Speaker 1>of their needle like beaks. They zoom in towards a

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<v Speaker 1>predator and faint poking at its eyeballs. If that doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>make an owl flinch, nothing will. So how can you

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<v Speaker 1>recognize a mob? No matter what good feathers taught us,

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<v Speaker 1>the signs of a made bird aren't the same as

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<v Speaker 1>a made man. But it can still be pretty easy

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<v Speaker 1>to catch a bird mob happening. Often you'll see and

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<v Speaker 1>hear a lot of excited birds in a tree. They're

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<v Speaker 1>screaming and flapping and making a huge ruckus. There might

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<v Speaker 1>even be a half dozen different species taking part. It's

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<v Speaker 1>very likely that there's a predator in the tree and

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<v Speaker 1>those birds are mobbing it. If the predator doesn't get

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<v Speaker 1>annoyed enough to leave, like maybe it's a taxidermy owl

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<v Speaker 1>being used in an experiment, the mobbing birds can keep

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<v Speaker 1>it up for hours. It will likely come as no

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<v Speaker 1>surprise that crows are the biggest fans of mobbing other birds.

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<v Speaker 1>They love to use this technique, and they are loud

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<v Speaker 1>about it. If you have crows in your neighborhood, you

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<v Speaker 1>have almost certainly experienced the sheer joy of a tree

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<v Speaker 1>laden with black crows screaming their heads off for far

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<v Speaker 1>longer than they could possibly need to. Mobbing achieves three

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<v Speaker 1>things For smaller birds, it can scare or annoy the

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<v Speaker 1>predator enough that it moves on. The mobbing birds can

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<v Speaker 1>make enough of a distraction that the predator won't be

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<v Speaker 1>able to find the nest that they're probably looking for.

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<v Speaker 1>And it can tell all the other animals around that

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<v Speaker 1>there's a predator in the area, thus ruining the predator's

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<v Speaker 1>surprise factor. Plus in researchers found yet another reason for

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<v Speaker 1>birds to mob showing off for the ladies. According to

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<v Speaker 1>a paper published in behavioral ecology and sociobiology. Male birds

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<v Speaker 1>will mob less threatening predators more aggressively if there are

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<v Speaker 1>female birds around to watch, and so if the threat

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<v Speaker 1>of danger is actually pretty low, the males will be

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<v Speaker 1>particularly daring so the females can see what a great

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<v Speaker 1>mate did be. If the predator is more dangerous, though,

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<v Speaker 1>the males show off less and merely get the mobbing

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<v Speaker 1>job done. Today's episode was written by Kristen Hall Geisler

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler Clang. For more in the so

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other topics because it how stuff works dot com.

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