Hello Tweeties,

i am sure most of you have been bomb-dived by wild birds at some point in your lives. what were those little birds doing? why were they attacking something that is so much larger than themselves (you)? i wrote a little piece at a reader's request about reciprocal altruism in European pied flycatchers. this paper explores the strategy used by these birds with regards to mobbing behavior;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/07/altruism_is_not_just_for_relat.php

cheers,

GrrlScientist
Devorah
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
Roosting high up a tree somewhere in Central Park, NYC