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Why Do Birds Sometimes Attack Windows Or Car Mirrors?

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Why Do Birds Sometimes Attack Windows Or Car Mirrors? MIRROR IMAGE ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR Some birds, like the collared sunbird, are drawn to their refl ections. SHADWhy do birdsO sometimesW attack BOXINGFor some people it is a hornbill inging itself into a window of their Kruger windows or car mirrors? Are chalet with a mighty thud as they are trying to catch an a ernoon nap. For they demented? By Joël Roerig others it’s a sparrow or a thrush hovering frenetically at the side mirror of their car. For me it was a pair of collared sunbirds clowning around in front of one particular window of our house in Hoedspruit that made me wonder just what these birds which seem obsessed with their re ections were doing. GREATSTOCK/CORBIS/JOEL SARTORE GREATSTOCK/CORBIS/JOEL 72 WILD SUMMER 2014/2015 www.wildcard.co.za SUMMER 2014/2015 WILD 73 ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR Should we try to prevent shadow boxing? Shadow boxing can be prevented only by removing the refl ective property of the glass. One of the ways to do this is to put transparent clingfi lm against the outside of a window. There is one record of a pin-tailed whydah that apparently died shadow boxing, but in general it doesn’t seem that birds hurt themselves. When you have a hornbill determined to peck his ‘rival’ to death at your window though, it may be better for your glass and sanity to intervene. A variety of birds are he metallic yellow and ror during a experiment, something only submit interesting observations of bird known to interact with green sunbirds, darting animals such as elephants, apes and dol- behaviour. their refl ections, includ- ing babblers, sparrows and frantically chir- phins had been known to do. Where science was lacking, ‘citizens’ and hornbills. ruping and pecking Besides birds, shadow boxing has also stepped in and many people sent me their at the glass, provided been recorded in stickleback sh and experiences or photos. Seth Musker wrote plenty of questions. mammals such as sea lions and monkeys. to me about a long-billed crombec “at- Were they trying to e behaviour is usually part of a ter- tacking its re ection in a car’s side mirror” come in? What was so special about that ritorial defence routine for a bird, so it is at Geelbek in the West Coast National one window in particular? Were they no surprise the behaviour is particularly Park. omas Hohls reported a pair of Thurting themselves in the process? Should prominent during the breeding season. Cape robin-chats “having a go at my I do something to stop them? Why was I discovered that legendary Eastern rental car mirror” in the same park. He it that they simply couldn’t leave their re- Cape naturalist Jack Skead had described also mentioned many instances of shadow ections alone? the behaviour of ‘my’ collared sunbirds in boxing in Kruger, including hornbills, I had seen other birds acting in similar a 1962 paper. He wrote that the sunbird dark-capped bulbuls, crested barbets and ways, including ground-hornbills in “becomes a great shadow boxer on window- Southern ground-hornbill. “Although the Mapungubwe with an unhealthy interest panes ... where opportunity occurs, such latter just blew himself up and didn’t actu- in my shiny vehicle and an arrow-marked as when riverside or seaside cottages are ally have a go at the car!” babbler noisily disagreeing with its re ec- built into the dune- or river-forest bush.” I am not sure if omas realised how tion in my car mirror in Marakele. I began We lived in a riverine area at the time. lucky he was. In 2008, a group of ground- to research the phenomenon in books and Collared sunbirds pair for life and occupy hornbills in icted considerable damage scienti c papers with the view to writing a territory throughout the year, which on a brand new Land Rover Discovery in it up for the e-journal Ornithological explains why the behaviour lasted for KwaZulu-Natal’s oNgoye Forest. Michele Observations. I asked fellow nature lovers months, the male usually being more vo- Greve, daughter of the man who owned to send me records of birds shadow box- cal but the female o en more active and the vehicle, described on SABirdnet how ing, as the behaviour is called. I wanted to seemingly spurring him on by hopping they dented and scratched all side panels, know what ‘my’ sunbirds were up to, why around in a bush opposite one particular some of the bonnet and managed to dis- both the male and female were so active re ective window. lodge part of the bumper on the back of and which other birds behaved in the Literature on the topic is scarce and the car. same way. scattered. Besides an illustrated article e woodland king sher and a few e female by amateur Australian ornithologist Keith African paradise- ycatchers, two species seemed to spur Stranger danger Alfred Hindwood in 1941, the paper I known for their ferocious territorial de- him on by hop- Scientists widely agree that birds attacking, went on to write was the rst ever litera- fence, have been the only shadow boxing ping around in ghting, calling, singing, staring, peck- ture review worldwide. Ornithological South African migrants I have recorded so Author Joël Roerig was a bush opposite ing, displaying or ying at their re ection, Observations is part of a citizen science far. A er sunbirds, the hornbill group in- prompted to investigate the one particular perceive the image as a stranger. e only project by the Animal Demography Unit behaviour after he noticed cludes the most species that shadow box, re ective recorded exception to this is the Eurasian at the University of Cape Town, in which collared sunbirds performing with Kruger records mostly re ecting the magpie, which recognised itself in a mir- professional and amateur birders can outside one of his windows. yellow- and red-billed culprits and Kwa- window. BUTCHART DUNCAN 74 WILD SUMMER 2014/2015 www.wildcard.co.za SUMMER 2014/2015 WILD 75 ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR Zulu-Natal records mostly coming from shrike, grey tit and even an ostrich. crowned hornbills. I also have shadow Shadow boxing occurs throughout the boxing records of African grey hornbills year, but October, when many local birds in Pretoria, Monteiro’s and Damara establish territories, seems to have by far hornbills in Namibia, and rhinoceros the most records. Some birds just can’t and oriental pied hornbills from as far as get enough of one particular window, like Singapore. ‘my’ collared sunbirds. A Gauteng pin- Based on literature study and people’s tailed whydah was observed attacking private records, my ever-growing data- the same windows for years. A Knysna base now contains 173 bird species inter- woodpecker at the Canon Rocks Caravan acting with their re ections, of which 89 Park in the Eastern Cape is a famous were recorded in Southern Africa, with re-o ender, attacking car mirrors of 10 species of sunbirds topping the list. campers for years on end. A male Cape Species most o en recorded are Cape sparrow was said to attack a bedroom sparrow (16 times), crested barbet (15), window “for at least 20 years”, suggesting Cape wagtail (13) and collared sunbird successive dominant males performing (12). Females sometimes engage in the the same ritual at the same site, because activity, especially some sparrows and the oldest Cape sparrow ever recorded sunbirds, but also the groundscraper was 10 years and eight months old when thrush, Southern boubou, black cuckoo- it died. Bennett’s Cardinal woodpecker woodpecker African pied wagtail White-crested helmetshrike Duncan Butchart, who did the illustrations for this article, saw a male Bennett’s UNDER woodpecker “going crazy at its refl ection in my car windscreen” in Satara. Kruger visitor Lisl van Deventer reported “an orange-breasted bush-shrike attacking SIEGE my car’s side mirror”. Neels Roos described an African pied wagtail attacking a sliding door in Shimuwini and a yellow-bellied greenbul a hut window at Sirheni. Lia Steen had a Bennett’s woodpecker and woodland kingfi sher engaging their refl ections on her bakkie at Pretoriuskop. Vincent Ward noted shadow boxing-like behaviour at a mirrored window at Lambert’s Bay’s Bird Island in kelp gull, African penguin, Cape cormorant and Cape gannet. GET INVOLVED To learn more about shadow boxing, download Joel’s paper from the e-journal Ornithological Observations at http://oo.adu.org.za/content.php?id=83 Submit shadow boxing sightings and contribute to the complete database by visiting shadowboxingbirds.wordpress.com To read about interesting historic records, go to www.wildcard.co.za and type “Shadow boxing” in the search box. NAUDÉ, AMANDA BUTCHARD, DUNCAN CLULOW DAVID MARK TITTLEY, 76 WILD SUMMER 2014/2015 www.wildcard.co.za.
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