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Why is the female blue chasing away other blues?

17 years ago

I have a pair of blues that come to the suet feeder everyday. Yesterday a lone female came to the feeder and the female of the pair of blues keeps chasing her away. I have never seen this kind of behavior in the fall.

Why is she doing this? I am afraid the lone female blue won't get anything to eat.

Karen

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Comments (4)

bluebars
17 years ago
Probably a territorial thing, especially if the female blue is a competitor, not an offspring. If she is an offspring, it could be the parent is establishing control. When warmer weather arrives, the parents will be relentless chasing off their young from the previous year.
The lone female might return to the feeder when the other one is not nearby, or she might be persistent enough to wait until she has a chance at the leftovers. If she is really aggressive, she might fight back, and sometimes win.
In human terms, it's the pecking order.
Bluebars
bluebirdbabe
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks Bluebars. I have had blues stay with me all fall and winter for several years sometimes as many 10 maybe more and I have never seen them chase away another bluebird. I have seen them chase finches off the log feeder.

I have seen parent bluebirds chase off their first nest of babies when the second babies hatch and that is one thing that I avoid watching. To me it is heartbreaking. But as I said, I have never seen it in the fall. Oh well, you learn something new everyday with our little blues.

Karen
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dave_in_va
17 years ago
Hi Karen

I see the same thing here and I agree with Bluebars that it is territorial. Interestingly enough, it is my adult female that does the chasing and she only does it to the young males. I am sure they are her offspring because Papa is very diligent in keeping other bluebirds outside the yard and away from the meal worm feeder. Here is an example, while a chipping sparrow looks on.

It is also interesting that the one female from the last clutch is not chased. She pals around with Mama and in fact, often goes inside the nest box with Mama and they stay in there sometimes for several minutes. Here is a shot where they just came out of the box and are both stretching their necks, tying to decide if a bird they see is a hawk.

In a similar vein, my adult male often chases the adult female, especially when they are defending the nest box and there are starlings, cowbirds or HOSP in the vicinity. When this happens Papa typically perches on the nest box and Mama on the shepherd's hook about 15 feet away. When he decides to move, he will fly to the shepherd's hook and she is expected to get out of the way. Usually she will fly to the nest box when she sees him coming, and they will pass each other on the way. If she fails to move before he gets there, he invariably attacks her. It happens every day. Here is a picture taken this morning.

Dave
bluebars
17 years ago
Dave, That's just like the pecking order at my house LOL.

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