
Squirrels listen in to birds' conversations as signal of safety - lelf
https://phys.org/news/2019-09-squirrels-birds-conversations-safety.html
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newsreview1
We have chickens, and they do the same thing. They listen for cues from other
species, and rightly so. We have an adopted (just showed up one day) guinea
hen who has a jungle type squawk she makes whenever a predator, including a
local sharp-shinned hawk is present. When she pipes up, everyone takes cover.
Ironically, when she makes the noise, our barn cats look to start hunting/
crouching. They are fantastic predators.

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h2odragon
I suspect the most distracted, hormonally frenzied squirrel is more aware of
his environment and present in his moment than the majority of humans can
achieve with concentrated effort.

Go sit in a forest clearing and be still and quiet long enough for everything
to decide you're staying and work around you. That place on that day will have
a story of more detail, drama and character than any soap opera could hope to
get. Tomorrow there'll be another epic there. The next clearing over has a
different show.

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lkschubert8
Isn't that just by nature of the fact that the squirrel lives in an
environment in which he has to actively search for food when he's hungry and
one that has other entities actively trying to kill it?

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jdavis703
This is correct. When I'm riding my bike it's easy to stay in the moment. I
have to be alert for busted infrastructure, innatentive drivers, impulsive
first responders and all manner of other threats. If I'm driving a car it's
mostly boring. I have to actively work to keep my mind on task. I suspect
others are like me, and that's why distracted driving is such a big problem.

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gaoshan
Other birds do as well. They all pay attention to each other. I have a very
active set of bird feeders in a rural area (so many species of birds and other
animals use them at the same time). I am within sight to it for much of the
day and it's very clear that they all cue off of each other. Some are more
brave, others more timid but they all pay attention. A chipmunk or bird fight
won't phase the others but a cat (or person or hawk overhead) will cause the
birds to make what is, for some of them, a very clearly different call
(usually loud and abrupt) and they all react at the same time.

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mkr-hn
I've watched birds land in front of me, turn their backs to me, and keep
looking back. I wonder if they were assessing me as a potential threat for
other birds. They do seem to let me get closer now.

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forgotmypw
Over 100 years ago, in _Wild Animals I Have Known_ (1898), Ernest Thompson
Seton describes this behavior in rabbits.

One of my favorite books.

~~~
jacobwilliamroy
"though the bluejay often tells lies for mischief you are safe to believe him
when he brings ill news."

It is my favorite book. :D

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hownottowrite
In the birding world there's a thing called pishing. If you get it right
you're basically alerting them to predators in the area and they come by to
see what's up (and potentially mob the predator if need be). Great for taking
pics.

[1] [https://www.thespruce.com/pishing-to-attract-
birds-386698](https://www.thespruce.com/pishing-to-attract-birds-386698)

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technothrasher
While in Africa on Safari, it quickly became clear that everything was
listening to everything else, including us. It didn't take long to understand
the various alert calls and use them to find big predators to shoot (with a
camera!)

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totally
Excellent book on this topic:

[https://www.amazon.com/What-Robin-Knows-Secrets-
Natural/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/What-Robin-Knows-Secrets-
Natural/dp/054400230X/)

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timwis
The graphic at the top of the article with the thought bubble is just
fantastic

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mellosouls
I like that it's helpfully titled "Listening grey squirrel" just in case there
was any remaining doubt of the subject.

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jhow15
I’m always surprised how, in my experience at least, people with less exposure
to animals usually underestimate their ability to understand their
surroundings and even feel emotions.

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thefz
Might it be that birds just fly away immediately in the presence of a predator
and for the same reason we humans find the sound of birds chirping so
relaxing?

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mongol
It is not always the case, it is not unusual that they change the way they
sound. "Bird chirping" can roughly be divided into bird song and bird calls.
Bird songs are for the most part relaxing, while bird calls are often used for
warning purposes. Bird watchers learn to look out when the birds in an area
change from the first to the latter. For example, I once looked around in this
circumstance and soon saw an owl with a dead bird in its claws. I am not
surprised that other animals, such as squirrels, learn to make the association
too.

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grawprog
To add to this, songbirds also sometimes engange in mobbing when predators
show up. Different species will all flock together and bombard the predator.
I've watched it happen to my cat before when he was chasing chickadees around.
All the birds in the yard ganged up on him and chased him off. He's not a very
good hunter, so the birds weren't really in danger either way. One of my
biology teachers mentioned if you make the right noises while walking through
the forest, you can trick the song birds into thinking you're a predator and
see the phenomenon for yourself.

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jhallenworld
But do cats make that chattering sound to lure birds with a false sense of
safety?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plPcu0Le1Ts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plPcu0Le1Ts)

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m463
It works in reverse. I remember reading ravens and wolves cooperate to hunt.
The crows alert the wolves to prey, the wolves take care of it, then the crows
share the spoils afterwards.

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ldh
Sounds like what I learned from Ravens in Winter
([https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122665.Ravens_in_Winter](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122665.Ravens_in_Winter))
an excellent read.

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causality0
Fascinating. This particular behavior is somewhat widely known but it does
serve as a hint that there are depths of animal behavior we haven't yet
perceived. Billions of years of evolution have created fantastically complex
interactive systems on the microscopic level, but we sometimes forget it's had
just as much time to work on animal behaviors as it has their physical makeup.
I suspect there's many more surprising things to find.

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rossdavidh
We have a bird feeder, which squirrels cannot (usually) get to but they hang
out nearby to eat what falls out. We also have the occasional feral cat or two
that swing by. I can attest that they are all listening to each other sound
the alarm, so it makes sense they would also listen to the "all clear".

My wife also does, because if they sound the alarm that means a cat is nearby,
and she comes over to the window to see if she can see the cat. This may have
caused me to pay more attention to the whole interaction.

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hokumguru
What bird feeder? Because every one I've ever tried has been promptly
ransacked by squirrels immediately after filling it.

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rossdavidh
Sorry, didn't see the reply until now. I have a nothing special bird-feeder,
but two things make it harder for squirrels to get to: 1) it is suspended,
from high above, by a rope around a tree branch; it is high enough that they
cannot jump up to it from below (well, it is high enough now, anyway, since I
saw them doing that) 2) just above the bird feeder is a dome, with a hole in
the center, through which the rope passes. There is a stick which the rope is
tied around, which keeps the dome just above the bird feeder. If the squirrel
climbs down the rope from above, the dome keeps them from getting to the bird
feeder.

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mellosouls
Off topic, this does raise the question of who _we_ listen to to not be
terrorised by squirrels.

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-
europe-45150298](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45150298)

(Sorry mods)

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instagraham
Why are they so distracted, paranoid, and cute? Squirrels are truly my spirit
animal

