Can anyone explain this behavior? | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab

Walter
Participant

Chirps: 6
- I saw two yellow shafted northern flickers in a field. Not sure if it was an adult feeding a juvenile or a male feeding a female. The behavior i observed was low tone call coming from the one being fed. The one being fed then started screeching loudly and dancing close to the feeder and bumping into it. The feeder then started pecking aggressively at it's back till it stopped the behavior. Then the feeder continued pecking the ground and feeding as before. This didn't look like a mating dance. More like an aggresive feeding dance. Can anyone give some insight into this and share a video of this behavior?
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Lee Ann van Leer
Moderator

Chirps: 112
Based on the time of year this was likely an adult/parent feeding a juvenile. Keep in mind in many bird species the offspring are roughly the same size as the parents before they leave the nest. If you find you are interested in learning more about behavior we have a course here you might be interested in: Think Like a Bird: Understanding Bird Behavior Also, if you want detailed accounts of a particular species you can consider subscribing to Birds of the World a premium online encyclopedia of sorts. Birds of the World From our Birds of the World site: "...Duration of juvenile dependence on parents appears to vary, but is not long. Sherman 1910 reported a fledgling in Iowa making its first independent sojourn 5 d after fledging, and was observed being denied food by its mother 22 d after fledging. Brackbill 1955 described 2 juveniles observed on 15–16 July in Maryland as nearly independent, their begging for food intermittently denied by the male."
- Walter
  Participant
  
  Chirps: 6
  
  Thank you Lee Ann.