Bird Language

Last night at our Master Naturalist chapter meeting we learned about bird language.  We saw a short documentary by Jon Young on how to interpret the language and behavior of birds.  He asserts that we have forgotten how to pay attention to nature because all of our basic human needs are taken care of.  Cultures who live closer to nature are very aware of bird language.  By paying attention to the birds you can learn of predators coming your way before the predators are aware of you.  He says birds basically have two states of being - baseline or alarmed.  If the bird is in baseline it can sing, bathe, preen, eat, defend it's territory, feed young and talk about love.  If the bird is alarmed it might call our a warning or possibly be silent or move to a look out spot.  If one bird flies up to the look out spot, the other birds behind it can relax knowing that bird has their back.  If all the birds in your yard abandon the bird feeder and go silent, there is probably a Cooper's Hawk of sharp shinned hawk nearby. For smaller predators such as a cat or a raccoon, the birds will fly up and away forming an umbrella shaped margin of safety around the animal.  To increase your bird language skills you have to spend time outside observing in nature.  Find a spot to sit in your yard where you can see the bird action.  Sit there an hour or more each day and pay attention to the spoken and unspoken language of birds.  Or you could read Jon's book, What a Robin Knows, to learn more about it.