Chickadees are well known to have clearly developed dominance
hierarchies ("peck order") in their winter flocks, with one bird
dominant to all the others, a second bird dominant to all others
except the first bird, etc. This would be easy to see at bird feeders
if your birds were individually marked, and I'm sure all of you have
noticed how chickadees usually wait their turn when coming in to
feeders (in contrast with Bushtits, for example). One thing that I've
noted is that Chestnut-backed are dominant to Black-capped at a pair
of feeders (sunflower seed & suet) outside my window. I've seen this
again and again, but I don't know if it's a general phenomenon or
whether I have a pair of really macho Chestnut-backs in my yard. Has
anyone else noticed this? If it's general, it is quite interesting,
as I would have predicted the reverse, as Chestnut-backs are slightly
smaller than Black-caps, and very often size determines dominance.
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382

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