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Florida Scrub-Jay Forages on Back of White-Tailed Deer’

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Florida Scrub-Jay Forages on Back of White-Tailed Deer’ 422 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS SCHLEIDT,W. M. 1973. Tonic communication: con- STRAUCH,J. G. 1978. The phylogeny of the Char- tinual effects of discrete signsin animal commu- adriiformes (Aves): a new estimateusing the meth- nication systems.J. theor. Biol. 42:359-386. od of charactercompatibility analysis.Trans. Zool. SIBLEY, C. G., ANDJ. E. AHLQUIST. 1990. Phylogeny Sot. Lond. 34:263-345. and classificationof birds. A study in molecular VEP~UNTSEV,B. N. 1982. Birds of the Soviet Union: evolution. Yale Univ. Press. New Haven. CT. a soundguide. Three long-playingdiscs. Melodiya, STEPANYAN, L. S. 1970. (Non-morphological criteria All-Union Studio for Recorded Sound. Moscow. and their utilization for classification[Burhinidae (Narration in Russian) (Aves) taken as an example]). Z. obshch. biol. 3 1: WILEY, R. H., AND D. G. RICHARDS. 1982. Adapta- 29 l-301. (In Russian) tions for acousticcommunication in birds: sound STEPANYAN,L. S. 1979. (Possible relations of Zbi- transmissionand signaldetection, p. 13l-l 8 1. In dorhynchastruthersii and notes on the history of D. E. Kroodsma and E. H. Miller [eds.], Acoustic the family Haematopodidae). Zool. Zh. 58:167 l- communication in birds, Vol. 1. Academic Press. 1679. (In Russian) NY. The Condor98:422-423 0 The CooperOrnithological Society 1996 FLORIDA SCRUB-JAY FORAGES ON BACK OF WHITE-TAILED DEER’ JOHNW. F~~~PA~~IcK~AND GLENE. WOOLFENDEN ArchboldBiological Station, P.O. Box 2057, Lake Placid, FL 33862-2057 Key words: Foraging; mammals; cleaningstation; is based on careful study of his video, a copy of which symbioses;tameness; Florida Scrub-Jay;Aphelocoma is depositedin the archivesat Archbold Biological Sta- coerulescens. tion. On 25 September 1994, Mr. Andrew Reiner was The propensity of Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma video-recording scenery and deer movements from a coerulescens)to become extremely tame around hu- deer-standoutside of, but immediately adjacentto. the mans, willingly to perch and even to rest on the hand, westernboundary of Archbold Biolog&alStation, near shoulder, or head, has been commented upon by nat- Lake Placid, Highlands Countv. Florida. At annroxi- uralists for over a century. We hypothesized (Wool- mately 07:Ob EDT a large buck deer with full-antlers fenden and Fitzpatrick 1984) that the behavior stems slowly walked along the margin of a wide, sand firelane from an ancestralwillingness to perch and forage on borderingdense oak scruband scrubbyflatwoods. The the backsof native mammals, in a low-growing habitat deer stoppedseveral times to browse. During one such that lacks large, diurnal, terrestrial predators. Records stop, a Florida Scrub-Jay(band combination ARZ = exist for Florida Scrub-Jaysperching and apparently 3-year old resident male breeder) flew into view and removing ticks from domestic cattle (Bent 1946) and perched on a pine snag several meters from the deer. feral hogs(Baber and Morris 1980). Dixon ( 1944) and As the deer moved on, the jay made an aborted flight Isenhart and DeSante (1985) observedWestern Scrub- toward it, left the video frame momentarily, then reap- Jays(Aphelocoma californica) doing the same on mule peared and alighted on the back of the deer near its and black-tailed deer (Odocoileushemionus), and the shoulders.The deer showed no indication of surprise, latter authorseven speculatedthat a “cleaning station” but continued to browse, head down. relationship existed between bird and deer. Here we Upon landing the jay immediately picked at the back describean encounterbetween a Florida Scrub-Jayand of the deer as if to take food, then hopped posteriorly an adult white-tailed deer (Odocoileusvirginianus), and to the haunches. There the jay first picked at, then summarize evidence that the behavior is not unusual. sharply pecked at and nibbled, a spot on the deer’s The encounterwas video-taped by a deer hunter while right rear buttock. The sharp peck prompted the deer he sat in a tree overlooking the scene.Our description to lower its haunchesslightly, head still down. The deer remained frozen in this posture for several seconds before picking up its head and casually looking back toward the jay. The jay then hopped forward again to ’ ’ Received 28 August 1995. Accepted 10 January the shoulder region, making a few additional gentle 1996. picks. At this point the deer easily could have brushed 2 Current address: Laboratory of Ornithology, 159 away the jay with its muzzle or antlers, but instead SapsuckerWoods Rd., Ithaca, NY 14859. remained seemingly unperturbed while watching the SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 423 jay. Also at this time the jay’s mate appeared flying humans easily and flee. Fortuitous video-taping by a into video-view toward the deer as if intending to land patient observer in a blind provided us a window into on it, but veered away and presumablylanded instead an interaction that may be common but inherently on oak shrubsjust out of view. difficult for humans to observe. As the deer resumed slowly walking along the fire- Until only a few thousandyears ago, upland habitats lane, the jay hopped and flapped several times as if of Florida were frequented for millions of years by trying to remain “on board,” but then flew off from many speciesof large, herbivorous mammals repre- near the rear of the deer. The entire sequencelasted senting numerous families (Webb 1990). No doubt, about 30 sec. The video continued following the deer such beastssupplied ample foraging opportunities for for several minutes as it moved along the firelane, but Florida Scrub-Javs.Although the lame mammal fauna the jays did not reappear. of the Florida s&rubhas ali but van&shed,that mega- We could not determine from the video what, if fauna-along with deer-may have contributed to the anything, the foraging jay recovered from the deer’s innate tendencyof Florida Scrub-Jaysto acquire fear- back. The jay clearly made efforts to pick food, how- lessnessaround large, strange, food-providing crea- ever, and we suspectthat the sharp peck, followed by tures, which now include humans. a nibble, representeddislodging and eating a tick. Bent (1946) summarizesevidence from several sourcesthat We thank Andrew Reiner for bringing this obser- ticks have been known as a food of Florida Scrub-Jays vation and video to our attention. We sincerelythank since late last century. Lt. Dale Knapp of the Florida Game and Fresh Water The behavior of the jays and deer did not appear as Fish Commission for his unfailing and alert attention coordinated as the “cleaning station” symbioses de- to duty, which helped renew our acquaintance with scribedby Isenhartand DeSante(1985), Kilham (1982) Mr. Reiner. Parks E. Small, also of the Florida Game and Massei and Genov (1995) for other corvids. More- and Fresh Water Fish Commission, kindly allowed us over, based on extensive field observationswe doubt to mention his unpublishedfield observation.We thank that the behavior could be as common among Florida Archbold Biological Station for continued support of Scrub-Jaysas that reported by Linsdale (1946) among our long-term studies of Florida Scrub-Jays. Black-billed Magpies (Pica pi&) and several speciesof LITERATURE CITED ungulates(see also Linsdale and Tomich 1953 for Yel- low-billed Magpies,Pica nuttulli,foraging on mule deer). BABER,D. W., ANDJ. G. MORRIS. 1980. Florida Scrub Nevertheless, features of our video-taped encounter, Jays foraging from feral hogs. Auk 97:202. plus two other previously unpublished observations, BENT,A. C. 1946. Life histories of North American lead us to suspectthat the behavior occursregularly in jays, crows, and titmice. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull., no. some Florida Scrub-Jayterritories. First, the jay -ap- 191. pearedto have spottedsomething to ingesteven before DD(ON,J. G. 1944. California Scrub Jay picks ticks alighting on the deer, as it picked at the deer’s hide from mule deer. Condor 46:204. almost immediately upon landing and before com- ISENHART,F. R., AND D. F. DESANTE. 1985. Obser- mencingto searchelsewhere along the deer’s back. Sec- vations of Scrub Jays cleaning ectoparasitesfrom ond, except for the brief lowering of its haunchesand black-tailed deer. Condor 87: 145-147. freezing after a hard peck from the jay, the deer did K~LHAM, L. 1982. Cleaning/feeding symbioses of not seem surprised or alarmed at having a bird land Common Crows with cattle and feral hogs.J. Field and peck on its back. Third, the iay that landed on the Omithol. 53:275-276. deer-is known not to be hand-tamed to humans, but LINSDALE,J. M. 1946. American Magpie (Picugicu), it does live in a tenitorv freauentlv traversed bv deer. p. 133-154. In A. C. Bent led.], Life histories of Fourth, the foragingjay ’s mate appearedabout to land North Americanjays, crows,&dtitmice. U.S. Natl. on the deer as well. Mus. Bull. 191. In responseto our interest in his video, Mr. Reiner LINSDALE,J. M., ANDP. Q. TOMICH. 1953. A herd of sent us a photograph- _ he had taken severalyears earlier mule deer. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, at a locality within 1 km of the encounter described CA. above. The nhotoaranh clearlv shows an adult white- MASSEI, G., AND P. GENOV. 1995. Observations of tailed deer drowsiig,head lowered, amidst palmettos. Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica) and Carrion Crow On its back near the shouldersis an adult Florida Scrub- (Corvus coronecornix) grooming wild boar (Sus Jay perching comfortably. The identity of the jay is scrofa). J. Zool. Lond. 236:338-341. unknown, but the earlier date precludesthis being the WEBB,S. D. 1990. Historical biogeography.p. 70- same individual as in the video. In addition to Mr. 100. In R. L. Myers and J. J. Ewe1[eds.], Ecosys- Reiner’s two encounters. we know of one other ex- terns of Florida. Univ. of Central Florida Press, ample, reportedto us recently from scrubin the vicinity Orlando.
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