Path: utzoo!censor!geac!jtsv16!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!ames!uhccux!mikeb
From: mikeb@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Mike Burger)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: bird begging
Keywords: begging
Message-ID: <4529@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Date: 9 Aug 89 01:48:09 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Hawaii
Lines: 102


	As an adjunct to a previous posting, I got involved
in a discussion of bird begging.  Not the kind involving
young juveniles begging from their parents, but birds begging
for handouts from humans.  It is quite common here in Hawaii.
	Excluding common flocks of pidgeons that are found
in park areas where people feed them regularly, I was wondering
how common begging is with other bird species, especially in
mixed flocks, in other parts of the U.S.
	The mixed flocks of begging birds near many regular 
human feeding areas are so common here that one assumes it is
common everywhere.
	You see  birds in mixed flocks that stake out
all sorts of eateries like McDonalds and the campus center
cafeterias.  Maybe it is because so many lunch places
in Hawaii have outdoor tables. Also the continous Spring
here may allow birds to become more settled in patterns
of behavior.

	Begging is the only word to describe the behavior.
The birds do not appear until a human with food sits down.
Then they fly right up to him. The sparrows (House Sparrows)
will land right on your table next to your tray.  The cardinals
(Red-Headed) will often come close enough to perch on a chair back
opposite you.  The Zebra Doves that make up the bulk of the
beggers just wander aimlessly around stupidly at your feet.
Red Vented Bulbuls keep their distance, but move in quickly
to grab anything interesting.  Large Lace-Necked Doves are
often included, but are so shy that even the Zebras intimindate
them in spite of a huge size difference.
	The Zebras are everywhere and major in stupid.  They
will nearly let you step right on them before they move. Yet
they are a fantastically successful species.  They provide
endless hours of fun for the large number of wild cats on
campus, and not a few meals judging from the piles of feathers
found here and there.  They nest everywhere and do not require
trees, anywhere off the ground will do, man-made or natural. 
	Attempts to scare these birds off results in only momentary
reaction.  None of the begging birds mentioned shows any great fear,
even the smart ones like the bulbuls.  I have only seen the
red vented ones in the begging flocks, the red whiskered ones
are fairly common on campus, but do not show up with the other
beggers.
	The cardinals and sparrows will sit and watch each
mouthful of food as it travels from your plate to your mouth.
They will sometimes cheep at you, but not "beg" in the sense of
the way a young juvenile will follow the mother around cheeping
like crazy.  I have seen juveniles in the begging flocks
following around a mother begging from her as she checks out
the action on the human to bird side of things. Both juvenile
sparrows and zebras have been seen harrasing mothers who were
begging.
	This "begging" is more like a starving dog watching you
eat with large pitiful eyes until guilt gets the best of you
and you toss them a piece of cracker or bread crust.
They pounce on it instantly, fighting over it at once.
The sparrows, begin ever resourceful, will often fly up and
grab it out of the air.  The victors rush to a corner to devour
it and then come quickly back for more.  The crackers that
come with the soup are an all around favorite.
	The most obvious behavior is on the part of the
smarter birds. The zebras just come when a human sits
down and mill around under the table back and forth,
back and forth. They often pass the time between morsels
with courting behavior.  It is the sparrows that come up and
give you the big eye treatment with the cardinals close
behind at a more respectable distance.
	The bulbuls are mostly thieves.  They wait until
something is thrown and then dive in and grab it, often
bullying the others out of the way.  They are extremely
agressive.  This method is also used by the cardinals to
a lesser extent as well as the sparrows.  The zebras are
the omipresent vacuum cleaner for what is missed by the
grabbers.
	The agression on the part of sparrows has even
rarely gone far enough to try to grab a cracker off the
far corner of the tray, but only a few of the very boldest
of the birds come up on the table.  Even the zebras will
fly up on a table, however, if they see the sparrows
getting away with it in front of an amused human.
	The behavior gets much bolder during Christmas
and other long holidays when the handouts get fewer and
further between as places like the campus center empty
out.  The flocks seem firmly locked into a favorite
single begging area.
	A typical large group of beggers at the campus
center might include 20 Zebras, one large dove, four
sparrows, two cardinals and one or two bulbuls.
	I used to work on the microbiology of a terrible
fatal yeast disease of humans carried in the droppings
of many birds.  I try not to think about the health
implications.  Several concerted attempts to discourage
the birds and human bird feeders have been tried with no
success.  Too many humans succumb to the temptation to feed
one of these cute beggers. The bold sparrows and the attractive
red-headed cardinals are particularly hard to resist.
	There is a very obvious "urbanization" amongst
these species.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  Mike Burger, Chemistry, 2545 The Mall  |  University of  Hawaii  |
  BITNET:   MIKEB@UHCCUX.bitnet          | Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822 |
  INTERNET: mike@helium.chem.hawaii.edu     Phone: (808) 948-7503