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Spied this Tufted Titmouse hiding in the leaves of an enormous Oak tree while camping in Lexington, North Carolina this past weekend. Titmice are usually accompanied by Carolina Chickadees and I thought it was odd that I didn’t see one nearby until a few minutes later I spotted three Chickadee‘s chattering with one another higher up the same tree. 🌿 Mixed flocking behavior has its advantages! Having 20 pairs of eyes to watch out for danger certainly allows individuals the luxury of relaxing a bit to concentrate on feeding vs. worrying about predators. Many songbirds give alarm calls when they see a hawk and it’s been shown that other unrelated species know exactly what those alarm calls mean. I’ve noticed that Nuthatches and Woodpeckers seem less likely to venture out into the open to a bird feeder if they didn’t have Chickadees & Titmice “leading” them, which makes me think that protection from predication may be a very important factor to consider when choosing the crew that these birds hang out with. 🌿 What species of birds traveling in mixed flocks have you observed? Mine are Tufted Titmouse , Carolina Chickadee‘s, Downy Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Juncos and Cardinals. This behavior is especially noticeable in the winter 🙂 3D Photo by @sally_siko Canon 5DS 200 mm . . . . #birdnerd #birdsofinsta #birdsofinstagram #ncwildlife #birding #birdwatching #Birdbehavior #bird #birds #ncbirding #ncbirds #ncbirdwatching #canon #canon5ds #tuftedtitmouse #birdsin3D #3dphoto #hiking #nchiking #ncoutdoors #ncnature #silvercordeventphotography #silvercordphotodaily #ncwildlifephotographer #naturemagazine #birdwatchingnc #audubon #outdoorphotomag

A post shared by Bird Watching N.C. (@birdwatching_nc) on Jul 16, 2019 at 6:04am PDT