There can be nothing on this earth better than relaxed birds, squirrels and other non-human cohabitors.
2
I'd love the scientists to study next what birds do - if anything, and which ones - when a bear or cougar is in the vicinity. More than once, I've gotten a bad vibe while hiking and felt, for no specific reason, that a large predator was in the area and altered my course. Now I wonder if I was responding to an absence of noise by birds or chipmunks, or to specific bird calls that seemed odd. This will make me a more observant hiker.
10
This is animal instinct. My cockatiel is great at communicating all kinds of emotions. Happiness, glee, excitement, anger, standoffishness, fear, and most of all calls for attention, and relaxation.
When desperate for attention, he will submit to alarm signals, such as cries as then the ultimate, calls of distress. Similar to the calls you might hear if gets stuck behind a pillow or squeezed to hard or falls behind the TV when flying to close to the wall.
And without a doubt calls of distress, or danger will get your attention every time!
6
Many people here don't seem to understand how "science" works....its not a matter of anecdotal observation, has to be proven, preferably with a blinded study to prevent human assumptions from creating the outcome.
1
By the way, how does one know when a squirrel is relaxed?
4
@polymath, from the article:
"She tracked six “behavioral states” and how long each squirrel was in that state: foraging, preening, resting, standing, freezing and fleeing. Standing, freezing and fleeing were the vigilance states."
4
@Grindelwald
I think polymath was being sarcastic. Squirrels never seem relaxed.
2
If you look up the adjective “squirrelly” in the dictionary, the definition is - “nervous or jumpy.” I don’t think squirrels have much down time.
6
"I’d be willing to bet ..."
Why tell us your guesses in a science article?
1
So do we all
2
This seems like the kind of experiment that, great big surprise, found exactly what it expected to find. I’m thinking eventually those squirrels would come to realize they were being played. Why not run that experiment?
1
HA!
"“public information networks that exist in ecological communities."
To my mind that's actually an excellent descriptor. And it makes perfect sense. As smart as we humans are how is it we've overlooked so obvious a thing? Are our senses that dull?
After all, why else do all living things have ears, eh? We live in a web of life, so of course there should be some form of "public information network" keeping it humming along shouldn't there? And ears would be the logical instrument in that communication.
John~
American Net'Zen
3
The sounds in our backyard change dramatically the moment our cat steps outside. The squirrels will react with a siren-like screech. The blue jays are the loudest. But the real organization comes from the chipmunks, who have developed a remarkable early-warning system to warn their brethren. They always have a sentry posted, meerkat-like, on "high" ground...basically any rock above 6 inches tall. The lookout scans for danger and sends out a loud, toothy chirp, and the rest of them scamper posthaste into the elaborate network of tunnels they have constructed under the lawn.
The cat, bewildered, sullenly returns empty-mouth'd, unable to figure out where the bounty on the menu for her next snack--witnessed so soon before from an indoor window--has vanished to.
If the cat is indoors and these alarms are sent out, it's a sure sign there is a hawk on high stalking dinner. The cat, and the hawks, are rarely successful on these sorties. The random, "unnetworked" pigeon is the usual clueless victim when the hawks are around.
PS The cat is fully supervised whilst outdoors.
10
@R Farr
Your cat is well fed indoors and probably doesn’t “snack” on prey.
If it just sinks it’s teeth into a bird, the bacteria in its mouth kills birds within minutes. Migratory birds are especially vulnerable to cat attacks since they don’t know your yard like the usual backyard birds do. They travel thousands of miles and weather all kinds of dangers, but providing entertainment for domesticated cats and their owners shouldn’t be one of their concerns.
Better to keep your cat indoors, both for the cat and wildlife. If you can’t or won’t keep your cat indoors, at least put a bell on its collar.
P.S. I’m a former cat mom.
7
One day I heard a general alarm go up in the messy hedgerows near our house. The birds were screeching and the squirrels were up in the trees fussing too. I went outside to scold my tabby cat, who gladly came running in the house. When I went to check what the alarm was about I found “Bubba”, the resident 6-foot-long grey rat snake, gliding through the underbrush. Apparently he was searching for nests and the birds and squirrels were determined to keep him on the ground.
I welcome this interesting research. It’s great to see anecdotal evidence of interspecies communication explored with a research model.
8
Yeah, these observations are age old. We've been feeding the wildlife around us forever now. Chipmunks, squirrels, bunny, and all manner of birds - doves, jays, cardinals, finch, et al. are here by the truckload every day. I buy peanuts in bulk - 50lb bags - as well as bird seed, black oil sunflower seeds, bunny food - in the winter. For them we're the equivalent of the house on the block at Halloween that's giving out full sized candybars.
Most of them - bunnies included - are really comfortable with is and will take food directly from us or just hang out within a few feet while we putter in the garden. Some of the chippers and bunnies even come over for pats! Yet soon as the alarm goes up by a squirrel - even a ways off - they scatter like the wind. Everyone is super cautious for several minutes then they eventually relax and carry on business as usual.
We also build really nice shelters for them in the winter. Covered clear boxes with subflooring raised off the ground, covered in ceder shavings. Also a blend of hays for the bunnies - and bunny food, compressed alfalfa pellets, as bird seed all in bowls. And all the bunnies and doves spend most of the day in them pigging out with the squirrels coming to much on stuff and get peanuts from us. Wish someone took care of me like that. :P
18
@Sparky:
bless you for that!!!
2
What I find amazing is that it is September 5, 2019 and "scientists" are just figuring this out? I would guess that most bird watchers could have told them that. And, that you, the NY Times, thinks this is news? Seriously, anyone who spends any time out in the wild soon learns to pay attention to birds. Most animals , including us, if you are wise, pay attention to them.
Wow.
13
It may be news to those who aren’t bird-watchers, who far outnumber those who are. I’ve noticed the phenomenon detailed in this study for years, but I still found it interesting.
6
@Clyde, Just like weathermen, who do not look outside, I find it a no-brainer. Though it may be interesting, I do not think it is worthy of scientific research.
I've never seen a relaxed squirrel.
17
Maybe, but the experiment as described leaves something to be desired. The squirrel observer should be different from the recording player, with the observer either deaf or with earplugs.
1
I had a parrot - “Twigs” - for 22 years. There were 2 calls that he had that my dogs learned to pay acute attention to. Twiggy had a perch that was over the back of the couch and he could see out the windows to the street. He was a keen observer and noted activity on the street with one of 2 calls; his rare panic alert at ear shattering volume “PE! PE! PE!” (followed by his falling off his perch), and his reasonably common alert call, “Cai! Cai! Cai!”.
I’ve had 3 generations of dog who, when they arrived in my house didn’t know from bird calls. But let me tell you that within a few days they knew what Twigs was talking about! Either of his 2 alerts would bring the dogs from the nether reaches of the house barking, to the couch where they barked at a random pedestrian, or a neighbor with a dog walking by.
So let me tell you that animals have brains, are sentient, they think and they learn. Yes, even squirrelly squirrels. Interspecies communication is common and has been happening for hundreds of thousands of years.
Is says something about humankind that we are only now publishing in scientific journals that which is obvious.
28
I've always wondered what circuits are triggered in a bird's or squirrel's brain by the approach of a raptor? It's not a conscious process, so evolution must have honed some very agile receptors. Is it speed? Movement? A silhouette? How would they react to a world of omnipresent drones - or Superrman?
7
Bird lovers are keenly aware of this background chatter, the constant ebb and flow of the birds and squirrels as they navigate through the perilous backyards they call home. The hawks, the owls and especially the outdoor cats create a constant flurry of calm and instant high drama all day and all night long. What a life!
10
Not surprising. Different species of birds listen to each other too for signs of distress as do various grazing animals.
10
I noticed when I lived in the country that squirrels will make little aaah aaah sounds. I read that this is a territorial message - "this is my tree" - I would go outside and several of them would be making these announcements. They also ate most of the magnolias on the property. Like most other small animals, they lived in intermittent terror. I remember the Grand Silence when a shrike started roosting on my front porch.
10
The robins, blue jays and mockingbirds totally give me away when I dart out my back door to chase the squirrels out of my garden.
And if the birds see me head out to the far back of the yard and start digging in the compost pile there's definitely an audible ruckus, since there's always worms and other bugs exposed in the process. I'll look up and there will be a bunch of robins sitting on the fence staring at me wondering when I'm going to leave so they can get at it.
I've noticed the robin pairs in my yard are especially aware of my presence, and will make different noises depending on whether I'm moving near their nest (single tweets) or just sitting in a chair near the nest (single "cuc" sounds).
17
Great article. Reminds me of one of my favorite Radiolab episodes from ages ago in which a scientist studied the language of Utah prairie dogs and managed to decipher when they were saying things as simple as “the red ball is moving” and more complex things like “the tall human in blue is moving.”
It was couples with a segment in which a researcher learned the “language” of Diana monkeys and finally left their research station in Africa after a long time of working there, and on their last long walk through the jungle back, they kept hearing different groups of monkeys say, “there’s a leopard,” and until finally they realized that the leopard must have been following them!
27
@L:
I've read that prairie dogs have sounds that indicate "man" and "man with gun"!
Yet we continue to shoot and poison them as "vermin".....
3
It's not only the squirrels that take notice of bird chatter. My wife and I found it was the best way to spot red-tailed hawks, eagles and peregrine falcons from our back yard. We filled five or six bird feeders everyday, and it attracted plenty of songbirds. At times the chatter got pretty loud, but when everything went quiet we knew that something ghastly was afoot in the bird world.
Our yard had a big grassy area, and every so often we'd find a patch of feathers and a few bird guts laying on the ground. That usually meant that a red-tailed hawk had swooped down and eaten a black bird at that spot. I suspect that all of the smaller varmints around our place took notice of it too. They included squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, and field mice.
During the day, when everything went quiet, we would invariably see a hawk circling high above our neighborhood. And when the hawk left, the chatter would resume a few minutes later.
17
Hawks, eagles and vultures all have nesting sites close by where I live. All potential targets for birds of prey from mammals to birds respond to the imminent danger of a raptor nearby chatter by birds. Robins and bluejays mob around the area of a perched raptor so as to allow you to visually locate the offending hunter. Raptors in flight are spared no mercy as collections of jays or crows gather and repeatedly dive bomb the interloper out of the area. Woe be to the raptor that happens to fly into an area of active swallows. The most comical aerial combat antics occur when fledge raptors take their first unsteady flights.
Yes, the squirrels, chipmunks and I listen to the birds. They run for cover. I grab the binoculars.
18
@richard wiesner
Happens in NYC too. Jays and mocking birds, in particular, mob the hawks and owls and strafe them if they are in the open.
1
How is it possible that we are only hearing about this now? It seems to be something that's plainly observable.
9
Of course squirrels listen to bird chatter --- and bird alarms --- and respond accordingly. But it's mutual. Birds also listen to squirrel chatter --- and squirrel alarms --- and respond appropriately to the information those sounds carry. Anyone who has spent much time in forests and woodlands knows this. That's not to disparage the Oberlin study. Please do generate data to support what we already know. That, too, is science!
29
It isn't just squirrels that relax. Years ago, a motion picture sound editor told me that when he wants the audience to relax, he mixes in a track of chirping birds.
Like squirrels, we human beings evolved to be sensitive to the cessation of bird song when the birds spy a threat.
36
@Josh Hill
And when he wants the audience to know that the actors are in the woods, besides the fact that they're surrounded by trees, I'll bet he inserts the sound of a woodpecker pecking a tree. I've listened for that sound in movie after movie and almost inevitably it is there.
8
Birds are usually very quiet both before and after a hurricane. When weather forecasting wasn’t available, people who lived in hurricane-prone areas could expect a weather change when the birds stopped chirping.
4
Birds don’t chatter. They sing and talk.
Squirrels chatter when the are threatened. They make squeaking sounds and fluff up their tails and hold them upright to make themselves look threatening.
5
Isn’t this already very well documented behavior among many other species in many places? Not very innovative research.
2
Some naturalists, birders, and hunters have witnessed the resulting behavior of bird warning calls. As a birder, I have often used bird warning calls to attract birds to be better seen or photographed. When doing so, it is not unusual to stir up squirrels who also come to see what the fuss is all about. The squirrels will often then emit their own warning chirps and other sounds. When a hawk, owl, and crows are about, the warning chirps and calls of birds can become quite loud. Some hunters carry a .22 pistol with them to stop squirrels, crows, and others from giving away their position, especially when deer hunting. Once while vocalizing a birding alarm call in the woods, I turned to see two white tail deer not thirty feet away staring at me. Neither had been there only moments before.
4
My daughter has a red tailed hawk that lives in the woods at the edge of her property and she noticed that when the usual cacophony of birds suddenly ceases and they become completely silent, the squirrels will vanish even from a completely full feeder, and then the hawk makes his appearance in the middle of the yard. Once he leaves they begin to chatter again and the squirrels reappear.
8
I hunk there’s a mutual back & forth among animals; I know that whenever my cat goes outside the squirrels chatter their alarms, and the birds either disappear or call their alarms, too. Even when the cat is hunkered down in the back woodland garden, the alarms continue, and don’t stop until he runs back to come inside.
9
@Deborah Howe If only it were more effective. Outdoor cats like yours are devastating to birds and other wildlife. Free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.4–3.7 billion birds and 6.9–20.7 billion mammals each year in the U.S.
Please educate yourself, here is the source for the stat noted above:
http://www.bsbo.org/position-statement-on-feral-and-free-ranging-cats.html
27
@CatPerson Once I lived so far out in the country that house cats were on the level of rabbits; the air was full of raptors and the woods full of much larger cats.
3
@CatPerson I suggest before we except the latest study we should look a bit more skeptically at those numbers. Another study indicates 4 billion birds migrate through the US every fall. One estimate is there are 10 billion birds in the US in total in the spring and 20 billion in the fall. This would call into question a suggestion that cats kill such a high percentage of the total population of birds. Habitat destruction is far more responsible for the decline in bird populations worldwide and in here as well.
9