Hello, everyone. I have a question regarding how chickens can tell the difference of noises that are seemingly almost exactly the same. Practically everyone who studies birds, or at least watches the birds by their feeder, knows that jays happen to be aggressive and they will chase off any others who are trying to get a snack; blue jays are known for their mimicry, often mimicking the calls of a hawk in order to scare other birds and scatter them at the feeder so the blue jay is left alone to feast upon the seeds, until another bird shows up in an attempt to feed as well. The hawk mimic call is so perfectly done by the blue jay that, when made by an experienced jay (as the younger ones trying to figure out how to mimic will often sound more high-pitched), it can trick anyone into listening more closely in order to identify who is really producing the call.
Except the chickens. Both jays and hawks frequent my area, with the former being a lot more commonly present closer to the backyard. As you can assume, I happen to hear blue jays doing hawk mimic calls a lot－and, like I stated above, if it is an experienced jay, I have to hear the call a few times before deciding whether it really is a jay or not. But, I have noticed that my chickens will never do the same thing. When my chickens hear a real hawk, they will tilt their head and stare up into the sky, while doing a quiet warning call, and the males will often tell the females to take cover if they hawk is close. When my chickens hear a blue jay mimicking a hawk, no matter how hawk-like the sound is, they take absolutely no notice of it and continue doing whatever they are doing.
Because of this, I began thinking about how I can see if my chickens can also tell the difference of real or online sounds. As a result, I took my phone outside and played calls from the red-shouldered hawk, the species that has made its territory close to my house. I used the calls from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website, if you are wondering. The noises coming from my phone did not bother them a bit, even though they came from a real hawk.
I found all of this strange. How can chickens tell the difference of a blue jay's mimicry from a real hawk when they sound almost exactly alike, and how do they know to not fear a hawk sound coming from a phone, but they take shelter and do warning calls when a real hawk is nearby?
Except the chickens. Both jays and hawks frequent my area, with the former being a lot more commonly present closer to the backyard. As you can assume, I happen to hear blue jays doing hawk mimic calls a lot－and, like I stated above, if it is an experienced jay, I have to hear the call a few times before deciding whether it really is a jay or not. But, I have noticed that my chickens will never do the same thing. When my chickens hear a real hawk, they will tilt their head and stare up into the sky, while doing a quiet warning call, and the males will often tell the females to take cover if they hawk is close. When my chickens hear a blue jay mimicking a hawk, no matter how hawk-like the sound is, they take absolutely no notice of it and continue doing whatever they are doing.
Because of this, I began thinking about how I can see if my chickens can also tell the difference of real or online sounds. As a result, I took my phone outside and played calls from the red-shouldered hawk, the species that has made its territory close to my house. I used the calls from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website, if you are wondering. The noises coming from my phone did not bother them a bit, even though they came from a real hawk.
I found all of this strange. How can chickens tell the difference of a blue jay's mimicry from a real hawk when they sound almost exactly alike, and how do they know to not fear a hawk sound coming from a phone, but they take shelter and do warning calls when a real hawk is nearby?
