AUDIO: BIRDS: A PECKING ORDER
Cornell University ornithologist Eliot Miller has done some research and come out with a list of which birds are more dominant than others – a literal pecking order of who chases who away from the bird feeder. Here’s the general list:
Most dominant:
– American crow
– Common grackle
– Red−bellied woodpecker
– European starling
– Blue jay
– American robin
Less dominant:
– Red−winged blackbird
– Mourning doves
– Brown−headed cowbird
– Cardinal
– Song sparrow
– Downy woodpeckers
– House sparrow
– White−breasted nuthatch
– White−throated sparrow
– Carolina wren
– Tufted titmouse
– House finch
– Red−breasted nuthatch
– Dark−eyed junco
– Purple finch
– American goldfinch
– The Chickadee is the least dominant of the common feeder birds
* And yet, the squirrel usually gets away with all the food.
* How do they all fare against, say, Big Bird?
* I guess to even things up you should scrap the bird feeder and dump the bag of seeds on the lawn.
* How much is Cornell paying professor Eliot Miller to look at a bird feeder all day?
CLIP: The Simpsons run through a list of dirty-sounding birds.
