Just stepped outside to see what I suspected I heard — noisy miners mobbing one of their own. I’ve seen this frequesntly over the years.
I presume this is not confined only to this one species, though I’ve never seen it amongst other birds.
Why do they do it?
Cheers Gordon Cain Schofields, NW Sydney ===============================
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Comments
One response to “Noisy miners mobbing one of their own”
Hi Gordon, I’ve seen it regularly in New Holland Honeyeaters and Australian Magpies around my place. Both species live in groups, so I’d hypothesised that it was a case of mobbing ‘outsider’ individuals from other groups. A potential alternate hypothesis could be that it is a method of maintaining social hierarchy within the group – a way of keeping subordinates in their place if they get ideas above their station! Note though that these are just my theories….. Cheers,John
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