Greensboro Birds

This story is making the bird rounds. Apparently nuthatches understand the various alarm calls of chickadees. But what I find more interesting is the bit at the end. There are folks who believe the chickadee is a fair player, perhaps because of its tendency to hang out in mixed company. Not always, according to Cornell’s Andre Dhont:

“… black-capped chickadees have been known to produce false alarm calls, causing other birds to fly away, leaving the cheating chickadees to enjoy a food source by itself.”