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Birds of a Feather Work Together

western bluebirds, juvenile, western bluebird — Juvenile western bluebirds may stick close to their parents and help raise the next generation.

Avid bird-watchers probably notice that some birds are solitary, like the lone hawk perching along the highway. And some are social, like the goldfinches and cedar waxwings that flock to our gardens. We could say that their degree of social bird behavior is part of the personality of each species. But when birds gather, it isn’t just because they enjoy each other’s company. There are practical reasons that explain why some birds flock together and even work together.

Group Nest Building Bird Behavior

Gbhnestbuilding 9101 — Some males, including great blue herons, bring nesting materials to their mates.

For a pair of birds to successfully raise young, building a nest is an important step. Unfortunately for many species, there’s no attempt at teamwork: Female robins, cardinals and hummingbirds all build nests with no help from their mates. Even the intricate woven nests of orioles are all the mothers’ doing.

But the news about the guys isn’t all bad. Some males—including red-eyed vireos, mourning doves, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and great blue herons—bring building supplies like twigs, grasses and plant fibers for the female to shape into a nest. Among some wrens, the male builds the main structure and the female adds the nest lining.

sociable weaver nest, bird behavior — Sociable weavers are communal nesters in Africa. They build an amazing nest together that looks like a haystack.

For one African bird, the sociable weaver, nest building is a task for an entire flock. A sociable weaver nest may look like a gigantic haystack draped over a short, sturdy tree. But up close, you can see dozens of small entrances on the underside, leading to individual nesting chambers. Sometimes more than a hundred pairs may help to build a single group nest—an almost unbelievable example of cooperative bird behavior.

Cooperating to Find Food

American White Pelican, Pelecanus Erythrorhynchos — White pelicans will swim together toward the shore, driving fish ahead of them to shallow waters where they can be snapped up.

Even a flocking bird, when it comes time to eat, must look out for number one. But in some cases, birds will work together to find or catch their food. In the deserts of the Southwest, a family group of Harris’s hawks may hunt together. One or two swoop in to scare a rabbit out of a bush, while another waits to grab it as it dashes away. If their hunt is successful, the hawks will share the meal, with the dominant bird eating first and the others getting the leftovers.

Another fascinating example is the cooperative fishing of American white pelicans. These huge birds will line up side by side on the water and swim together toward the shore, dipping their bills in the water and driving fish ahead of them into the shallows, where they can be scooped up easily.

Winter Survival: Follow the Leader

Black-capped chickadee on tree in snow — Black-capped chickadees are often the brave leaders of a mixed winter flock.

Here’s a wintertime wonder you might see in any neighborhood with plenty of trees: a roving mixed flock of five or six kinds of birds making its way through the woods together. The leaders of the pack will be a flock of chickadees, flitting like acrobats in the outer twigs. Often there will be one or two nuthatches, a downy woodpecker and perhaps a brown creeper following along, clambering up tree trunks. A few titmice, a kinglet or two and sometimes a yellow-rumped warbler may join the flock.

These mixed flocks form because other birds like to follow chickadees around. Chickadees are active, alert birds, always on the lookout in every direction. They are quick to spot any hawk or other predator that comes near.

Birds like nuthatches or creepers, moving along with their faces next to tree bark, may be less likely to notice the approach of danger. But they can simply listen to the chickadees and fly to safety when the usual chatter of the little birds turns to alarm calls.

Learn about another fascinating bird behavior: caching food.

Bird Mobbing Behavior

why do crows chase hawks — Crows mobbing a red-shouldered hawk

The concept of safety in numbers gets cranked up another notch when birds engage in mobbing behavior. If songbirds discover an owl roosting in the daytime, they gather around and badger it with alarm calls, sometimes flying at it and even pecking at the back of its head.

Small predators like screech-owls are usually mobbed by small songbirds. Big ones like great horned owls are more likely to be mobbed by crows or other larger birds. The owls are seldom driven away by this harassment, so it might seem that the mobbing behavior doesn’t work. But it does mean that all the birds in the neighborhood know the owl’s location, so they won’t be taken by surprise.

Bird mating behavior: who’s the boss?

Sharing Child Care Duties as a Flock

Acornwoodps4 1101 — Acorn woodpeckers work as a group to harvest acorns and store them in holes in trees, to help the flock live through the winter.

If you ever watch a nesting pair of American crows, you might get the impression that more than just two adults are bringing food to the young birds in the nest. And you’d be right. Pairs of crows very often have assistants, usually their own offspring from previous years, bringing food and helping to guard the nest. Some crow nests have five or more helpers in addition to the parents. The same kinds of helpers have been observed in many other species, from purple gallinules to western bluebirds.

Some birds take group nesting behavior to an even higher level. Among the groove-billed ani, an odd tropical cuckoo that gets as far north as Texas, up to four pairs of adults cooperate to build one big nest, where all the females lay their eggs. All the adults in the group help with incubating the eggs and feeding the young.

The ultimate example of cooperative bird behavior may be the acorn woodpecker. In western oak woods, these gaudy birds live in colonies of a dozen or more. One, two or three females may lay eggs in a single nest; after the eggs hatch, all the adults in the group feed the young birds. But the woodpeckers don’t cooperate just at nesting. They also work as a group every fall to harvest acorns and store them in dead trees riddled with holes, saving up enough food to help the flock live through the winter.

Watch Birds to Observe Their Behavior

cedar waxwings, cooperative bird behavior — Cedar waxwings search for food in groups.

These are just a few examples of the ways birds can work together. If you watch carefully, you may discover something new about the birds right outside your window. Even the most common of them can still surprise us with their bird behavior.

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Shutterstock 231513913 — Red-tailed hawk in flight

Do hawks migate? The answer is yes, and often in large groups. In certain places where land meets water or where mountain ridges create geographic funnels, migrating raptors gather in huge numbers every autumn. Many birds of prey look for thermals, which are rising columns of air that form when the sun heats the earth, to help them soar as high as 3,000 feet. “Riding the thermals helps raptors conserve energy as they head south for the winter,” says Step Wilson, Hawkwatch program manager at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in San Francisco.

Bird-watchers and scientists observe hawk migration in the U.S. from late August to mid-December, with species numbers and types changing as the season progresses. At hot spots across the country, researchers safely capture and band hawks, and volunteers perform daylong counts as the birds fly over. Here are a few places to witness high-flying migrants.

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Hawk Migration Watching Tips

Follow these tips when you set off to watch hawks migrate.

When to Go: A sunny day with some clouds and northwest winds about 15-20 mph is best for raptor watching. Hawks typically fly from about 10 a.m. to late afternoon.
What to Bring: Pack layers of clothing, water, binoculars and snacks. Don’t forget to wear sturdy hiking boots.
What to Expect: Be prepared for an uphill climb at some observatories. Hawk-watching requires a little patience, but expect the unexpected.

Check out essential hawk identification tips for birders.

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk — Early October is your best opportunity to see Cooper’s hawks migrate at North Lookout.

An annual hawk watch occurs daily at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a 2,600-acre scenic preserve, from Aug. 15 to Dec. 15. Check out North Lookout, only a mile from the visitor center, where an average of 18,000 hawks, eagles and falcons are counted each season.

Highlights include large numbers of broad-winged hawks in September. Plus, spotters have seen more than 1,000 sharp-shinned hawks in a single day in October and more than 1,000 red-tailed hawks a day in late October and early November.

Hawk Mountain was the first refuge for birds of prey in the world. It was protected in 1934 in order to stop the hunting of birds of prey for sport and opened to the public the following year so that people could observe these amazing birds. This site is now one of the most popular hawk watch location in the eastern U.S.

Smith Point Hawk Watch, Texas

Hawkwatch Tower — A tower at Smith Point Hawk Watch brings visitors closer to the action.

At some hawk watches, raptors are too high for beginners to identify, but at Smith Point Hawk Watch, visitors take spectacular photos and get close looks as birds fly over a tower set up for counting.

Raptors congregate when they reach Galveston Bay and must decide whether to cross it or choose another route. Some 50,000 to 100,000 individuals, such as broad-winged hawks, Mississippi kites and sharp-shinned hawks, pass through each season, along with black and turkey vultures.

About an hour from Smith Point, the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory and HawkWatch International conduct a watch at the Candy Abshier Wildlife Management Area in Port Arthur, Texas, where up to 19 hawk species show up at different times during the season.

Check out birding hotspots for spring sandhill crane migration.

Corpus Christi HawkWatch, Texas

Mississippikites.intree — =Mississippi kites migrate through Texas on their way to their wintering grounds in South America.

More than 1 million migratory raptors were counted in a single season along the Nueces River by Corpus Christi HawkWatch. Researchers and visitors see broad-winged hawks and sharp-shinned hawks as well as Mississippi kites, turkey vultures and some rare finds, including zone-tailed hawks and swallow-tailed kites. It’s one of the best places in the U.S. to view the largest concentration of migrating raptors each fall.

Visit early August through November and join researchers at the covered platform on a bluff at Hazel Bazemore County Park.

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Minnesota

Bald eagles soar through Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, do hawks migrate? — Bald eagles soar through Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory.

Hawk Ridge attracts visitors from more than 40 countries to witness raptor migration. Owned by the city of Duluth and managed by the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, the site features a main overlook on Skyline Parkway at the western tip of Lake Superior.

Most raptors avoid large bodies of water, so when they reach Lake Superior, they congregate along the lakeshore and outlying bluffs. As the birds of prey come around the lake, they fly right past Hawk Ridge, making this an ideal location for a hawk watch. Like many of the hawk migration watches in the eastern US, this site gets an incredible number of broad-winged hawks! Researchers count an average of 76,000 birds of prey each season and band about 3,000 of them annually.

Twenty species, including owls, are spotted here during autumn. Sharp-shinned hawks and broad-winged hawks come through in September. Red-tailed hawks, rough-legged hawks and bald eagles, sometimes hundreds in one day, are present into December. Visitors might see barred, long-eared and other owls in small numbers. The best time to visit is Sept. 1 to Oct. 31. Naturalists are also on hand to answer questions and present live bird demonstrations.

Cape May Bird Observatory, New Jersey

Nharrier4f 011415 — Northern harriers are seen regularly at Cape May Bird Observatory.

Cape May, a peninsula bordered by Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, serves as a natural funnel for migrating raptors. An average of 17 species are counted here from September through November. After a cold front passes, spotters may see large flights of sharp-shinned hawks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds to thousands. Other stars here include red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons, osprey and northern harriers.

Scientists have counted birds here for 40 years. Researchers and visitors congregate at the hawk migration watch platform near the parking lot at Cape May Point State Park from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 to observe the spectacle. A festival sponsored by New Jersey Audubon takes place in late October.

Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, California

do hawks migrate? golden gate hawk watch — A red-tailed hawk takes off at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.

Researchers have been spotting hawk migration at various vantage points here from mid-August until mid-December for 33 years. Some birds come quite close, and 800 or more sharp-shinned hawks might fly by in one day. Specialties include large numbers of turkey vultures and different morphs of red-tailed hawks, all the way from typical pale birds to dark morph individuals that look almost black.

The best and most accessible place for viewing is Hawk Hill, along Conzelman Road in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. From September through November, visitors can view up to 19 species of raptors while enjoying views of the Pacific Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands.

Discover the top warbler hotspots to visit in spring.

Florida Keys Hawkwatch

Eye contact with a low flying osprey, hawks migrate — Low-flying osprey

This hawk migration hotspot is a little different than the others in this list. Most birds of prey avoid going over large bodies of water, but a few species such as peregrine falcon and osprey don’t seem to mind. In 2012, this location set the world record for the total number of peregrine falcons (3,836) during a single migration season.

Learn more on the hawk watch’s official blog.

Detroit River, Michigan

hawk migration — Sharp-shinned hawk at the Detroit River Hawk Watch

The Detroit River Hawk Watch is located on the west end of Lake Erie and thousands of broad-winged hawks migrate over this spot. Be sure to visit during the middle of September to have the best chance to see a huge movement of birds of prey.

Check out more Great Lakes birding hotspots.

About the Expert

Step Wilson is the Hawkwatch program manager at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in San Francisco, California. He has been studying and working with raptor since he started as a volunteer bander in 1995.