Pecking Order

We love to watch the birds in our garden. They are totally different from the ones we had in our garden in South Carolina, with the one exception of the house wren. The house wren here, however, is a different subspecies, and sings more sweetly than the one on South Carolina.

After two years of observation we have learned a lot about the birds. One of the biggest differences is that many of the birds here are nectar and fruit eaters. In South Carolina we put out mostly seeds, and ocassionally some suet. We tried putting out fruit a couple of times, but only succeeded in attracting butterflies and wasps. Here in Costa Rica, 16 out of the 78 species we have on our property are fruit and/or nectar eaters. We have two platform feeders where we put plantains, and sometimes bananas or papayas.

There is a lot of competition among the birds for the fruit. Some bird species tolerate other species at the feeder; other species will chase off any other birds. Over time we have figured out the pecking order, i.e., which birds dominate other birds. The order seems to be determined by a combination of size, size and shape of bill, and personality.

Blue-crowned motmot

Ironically, at the top and bottom ends of the pecking order are the two largest birds. The blue-crowned motmot is the uncontested king of the feeder. When it lands there, all other birds make a beeline for the bushes, where they remain until the motmot has had its fill and eventually lumbers off with a full belly. Although motmots are fairly sedentary birds and seemingly nonaggressive, they have long, vicious-looking bills, and will sometimes peck at other birds that try to land on the feeding platform. Motmots sometimes stay at the feeder for a half hour or more, resting between feeding sessions. If this goes on long enough, the birds in the bushes become wrestless and the clay-colored thrushes in particular begin to buzz the feeder, being careful to stay just out of pecking distance.

Near the bottom of the pecking order are the red-billed pigeons, which weigh almost twice as much as the motmots (the pigeons weigh 230 grams; the motmots, 120 grams). The pigeons have very small bills in relation to their size, and a very passive personality. They wait on top of our poro tree and watch the feeder till the morning feeding frenzy is over. Then they descend en masse on the feeder.

Male Hoffmann's Woodpecker (photo courtesy of R. Hays Cummins)

After the motmot comes the Hoffman's woodpecker. It is a medium-sized bird, but has a long, sharp and powerful bill. It is willing to share the feeding platform with other birds, but if challenged (which is usually by a thrush) will quickly drive the other bird off. It is kind of like Teddy Roosevelt -- it walks softly, but carries a big stick.

Next come the clay-colored thrushes (until recently called clay-colored robins) and the Baltimore orioles. There are lots of thrushes and they are around the feeder all day bullying the other birds to no end. The orioles are aggressive when they are here, which is only part of the year. They chase off most other birds, but seem to delight in squaring off with the thrushes. The thrushes usually stand their ground at first, but the orioles generally win out in the end.

Great Kiskadee

Great kiskadees come next in the pecking order and also fight a lot with the thrushes. Black-headed saltators follow. If at the feeder singly, they cannot stand up to a thrush, so what they do a few times a day is they come in as a family of four to six birds and take over the feeder. Not even a motmot can stand up to a mob like that.

The kiskadees and black-headed saltators are followed in the pecking order by a motly crew of grayish saltators, flame-colored tanagers, summer tanagers, and ocassionally hepatic tanagers. At times they will squabble among themselves, but they are basically non-aggressive birds.

Summer Tanager

Below these are blue-gray tanagers and Tennessee warblers. These birds almost always come in pairs. The blue-gray tanager seems to be a friendly bird and is generally not bothered by the other birds, with the exception of the thrushes. The Tennessee warblers just started showing up this year. They will land on the feeder when any other type of bird is feeding, with the exception of the motmots, and dart in to to peck at the plantain, and then quickly back out again.

We also have three species of hummingbirds, but they do not eat fruit, only nectar, so do not come to the platform feeder.

Happy gardening!