Wild birds that will land on the hand (1 Viewer)

[mattpau]

Near where I live is an area known as the Jack Pine Trail. People have been hand-feeding black-capped chickadees there for many years and they have become very tame/bold - they often flock around people with no food to offer them, even landing in their empty hands. Perhaps having learnt from the chickadees, both species of nuthatch (White-breasted and Red-breasted) will also take sunflower seeds from the hand at this location. By the way, the other day my wife was feeding the chickadees when I noticed a bigger bird fly into the lower branches of a tree in a grove right next to us. I thought it was a blue jay but got a start when I realized it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk attracted by all the small passerine activity. The hawk bolted when I inadvertently moved but I wonder if he might have nipped in and taken a chickadee if we'd kept perfectly still - I would have found that unnerving!

The only other species of wild bird that I can recall landing on the hand (actually an outstretched finger) was in a very different environment: Long-tailed Sylphs (a hummer) in Venezuela's Henri Pittier National Park would use one's index finger as a perch for the feeders.


I was wondering if anyone out there had other examples of wild birds willing to land on people's hands.

 

[KC Foggin]

I've succeeded with hummers coming to my fingers when I am holding the feeder and I've had a chicadee come to my palm. I've got a friend in Burlington and she has been successful with chicadees and nuthatches and get this...a downy woodpecker and I've seen photos to back all this up. It is amazing.

 

[Tammie]

Check out my avatar. That's a Gray Jay (whiskey jack) on my hand. I used to hand feed about 6 of them before we moved last spring.

 

[mattpau]

Thanks KC and Tammie

After posting, I remembered that I'd seen grey jays being hand fed - I believe it was at the Olympic National Park in Washington State. I can see that this behaviour of theirs is not restricted to that particular place! My wife would like to know if wild blue jays will hand feed. I've certainly never seen it myself.

Downy woodpeckers are pretty tame (plus they're often seen with chickadees!) so I can imagine them feeding from the hand, though I've never personally witnessed it. I had a wild downy in my hand this summer in different, rather bittersweet, circumstances. My wife and I were at a plant nursery and I noticed a downy on the ground near a shed. He was semi-conscious and seemed to be lapsing into unconsciousness - he didn't look well at all. It was clear he'd hit the shed's window. I kept picking him up and when I did he seemed to revive somewhat - become more alert. But when I put him down he'd start trembling and look as if he was going to go to sleep. So I kept on picking him up, while wondering what else I should do. Finally at one point he seemed to snap out of it somewhat. A couple of seconds later he bolted from my hand and started flying up up and away, seemingly in full control. I have no idea if he survived or not but it certainly looked hopeful. If any bird could survive smashing his head into a window you'd think a woodpecker could!

 

[Katy Penland]

While I think seeing the odd wild bird land on the hands of those of us who feed them in our yard is thrilling and humbling, it makes me sad to see flocks of them doing this in publicly visited areas. In Oregon, there's at least one state park where a strict no-feeding policy is in effect because it has a bad side effect: The animals don't learn to hunt/glean properly and cache food for the winter, and many of them die from starvation as a result. So the park rangers had to put their collective feet down.

I don't mean to sound like I'm preaching to the choir here, but another problem with encouraging wildlife to eat from humans is that they lose their fear of us and can be harmed by those who don't have the good intentions we do. This has been proven over and over again in the marine mammal world where wild dolphins, who have learned to approach humans in boats for fish handouts, have been found with all sorts of objects stuck in their blowholes. Even an adult gray whale in one of the Baja calving lagoons was photographed with a long stick shoved into its blowhole just a couple years ago!

Sorry, Paul, didn't mean to deviate from your thread! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

 

[Bluetail]

Downy woodpeckers are pretty tame (plus they're often seen with chickadees!) so I can imagine them feeding from the hand, though I've never personally witnessed it.

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/17385

 

[Elizabeth Bigg]

A few years ago we had a robin who came to take mealworms from the hand.

 

[mattpau]

While I think seeing the odd wild bird land on the hands of those of us who feed them in our yard is thrilling and humbling, it makes me sad to see flocks of them doing this in publicly visited areas. In Oregon, there's at least one state park where a strict no-feeding policy is in effect because it has a bad side effect: The animals don't learn to hunt/glean properly and cache food for the winter, and many of them die from starvation as a result. So the park rangers had to put their collective feet down.

I don't mean to sound like I'm preaching to the choir here, but another problem with encouraging wildlife to eat from humans is that they lose their fear of us and can be harmed by those who don't have the good intentions we do. This has been proven over and over again in the marine mammal world where wild dolphins, who have learned to approach humans in boats for fish handouts, have been found with all sorts of objects stuck in their blowholes. Even an adult gray whale in one of the Baja calving lagoons was photographed with a long stick shoved into its blowhole just a couple years ago!

Sorry, Paul, didn't mean to deviate from your thread! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

When I started this thread I was fairly sure that someone would come up with good reasons to be cautious about hand feeding- thanks Katy. As the Jack Pine Trail here has lots of feeding trays, I don't think the "becoming dependent" argument holds, but it's possible that someone with bad intentions could attract the birds. They'd have to be pretty quick to do them harm - the chickadees and nuthatches have fast reflexes - but I suppose if one has an evil imagination one could come up with ways to hurt them. The examples from marine mammals are shocking and sad. :C

Jason - thanks for the link. Incontrovertible proof, and a great picture as well!

 

[Jos Stratford]

Marsh Tits here in my garden don't actually land on my hand, but simply do not move off when I go to fill the feeders and more than once I have used my finger to push them off the feeder!!!

 

[stepsus]

There is a park not far from where I live and if you sit and hold your hand out with seed or crushed peanuts blue tits will come and feed. I have tried on several occasions to capture it with my camera but they fly off straight away.

 

[dylan]

Couldn't let this thread pass without posting an old Robin photo. :hi:

Got a new Robin hanging around at the moment but it has only snatched food from the hand once so far. The Carrion Crow seems to have developed a liking for mealworms but I wont be hand feeding that!

 

[Chris D]

Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, Satin Bowerbirds, Laughing Kookaburra, Pied Butcherbirds, and Victoria's Riflebird in Queensland Australia. The Kookaburras and Butcherbirds eye a greater prize when you make eye contact. Also, Rufous Hummingbirds in SE Alaska will cover your hand if put under a feeder.

 

[Balego]

Hi Paul

I've been to Jack Pine trail numerous times. The first time we went, we didnt know that the birds would land on us, and as we walked through the trail without any seeds, they were all over us.. sitting on our cameras, landing on our hats. We had not only chickadees, but both the nuthatches looking for seeds.
We tried walking through the trail in August, and surprisingly we didnt see any birds at all, except one bluejay passing overhead. It was dead quiet in there!
I've not seen any birds at the water at all.. I have hoped to come across a bittern or something, but so far I've had no luck. Havent even seen so much as a frog in the swamp area.

Do you go to Mud Lake? I love that place! I could sit there all day.

Bev

 

[Joe H]

Paul,

I haven't hand fed any birds in Alaska yet but our resident Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted nuthatches, and Pine Siskins probably would stand for it. They feed on my deck even when I'm sitting only feet away, it's an impressive sight. I've had Bald Eagles dive for trout I've just released in a local lake and once I had a Common Loon strip a trout off my line while I was playing it. He surfaced, downed the fish, and promptly swam off to get his mate. The two of them hung around for about half an hour until they realized I had no intention of helping them catch any more fish. I was using a very small dry fly at the time and can only hope that it dissolved along with the trout’s skull.

In Australia, I’ve had many birds land on me for a snack. Mostly in tourist sites. I normally won’t feed wild birds but I did get a dirty look from a Rosella who took a sip of coffee from a mug I was holding.

Joe H

 

[mattpau]

Hi Bev

As it's part of Britannia, one of our area's hottest birding spots, Mud Lake sees me fairly often! Britannia was a bit disappointing this year, though.

Bitterns can be elusive - I think they may need considerably more extensive marshes than the one at Jack Pine. If you're willing to go this far, I'd suggest you check out the Marais des Grenouillettes on the Quebec side next year. This year there were least bitterns there as well. For directions to this site and many others, take a look at this amazing encyclopaedic website: http://members.rogers.com/larry.neily/birdguide.htm

 

[Jodievdw]

Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, Satin Bowerbirds, Laughing Kookaburra, Pied Butcherbirds, and Victoria's Riflebird in Queensland Australia. The Kookaburras and Butcherbirds eye a greater prize when you make eye contact. Also, Rufous Hummingbirds in SE Alaska will cover your hand if put under a feeder.

Many years ago, before we knew any better, we had a semi-tame Aussie magpie who would sit on the kitchen windowsill and 'beg' for food. (particularly fond of the dogs' meatie-bites as I recall!) As the years passed, Ocho and his descendents got braver and bolder until eventually they would come into the kitchen, rifle through the washing up and the scrap bucket, stalk across the table and leave a tip on the floor before flying out through the living room. That was about the time we realised the OTHER reason why feeding wildlife isn't always a good idea....

 

[mattpau]

Thanks to all those who shared their experiences with wild birds landing on the hand. My wife and I would still like to know if anyone has witnessed wild blue jays doing this!

 

[columbidae]

Almost 20 years ago, during my post-college backpack trip through Europe, in a London park (Hyde Park?) I came across a spot where many people were feeding small birds. I had a number of them land on my hand as I gave them bits of bread. As this was years before I took an interest in birding I don't know what any of the species were.

Summer before last I had a house finch coming regularly to my feeder, which would perch on my extended finger if I held it up to it while it was on the feeder. I'm not sure why it allowed me to do this.

 

[AcidEric]

there is a place not too far from us called Forge valley where the birds do much the same thing they have been being fed there for many years i've had chffinches,sparrows,blue tits,great tits and many others feeding out of my fend up there.

 

[PrivatePigg]

Don't forget Rock Doves. They'll eat from your hands, as will lots of water fowl, like Geese and Ducks.

I have a House Sparrow, a small female, who would come up and eat out of my hand last summer. She was very tiny, possibly very young, and she wasn't scared of me at all. I hadn't done anything to earn her trust, necessarily, I just noticed that when I went out to add seed to the feeder, she would stay while the others would fly off. So, I gave it a try and she eventually came around after an hour or so of trying.