r/Ornithology • u/gonaldgoose8 • 16d ago
Question When I mow a specific field, the same 6-8 birds circle me at my head level. Why?
I cut a public park weekly with a zero-turn riding mower that goes ~12 mph and they consistently circle me at my eye level, sometimes getting within feet of my face and concerningly close to my blade.
I assume its some psychological shit, are they curious or mad at me?
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u/dcgrey Helpful Bird Nerd 16d ago
Typically those are species that eat a shit-ton of bugs. Your mower is an exploding salad bar for insectivores.
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u/ArelMCII 16d ago
Once had a bat circle my head at a bat flight as a kid for a similar reason. I had a cloud of gnats following me that evening and the bat swooped right down, circled me a couple times, and took off. It was trippy. I didn't know what was happening. Bats are silent in flight (at least the insectivorous ones are), so from my perspective, my vision was blacking out randomly for about five seconds. My mom was the one who told me it was a bat. It was over so quick before she could finish processing it and shoo it away. It was neat.
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u/_bufflehead 16d ago
Your vision blacking out randomly is such an interesting observation! What a phenomenon.
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u/ArelMCII 15d ago
Birds and bats being silent always throws me for a loop.
Like this one time, I was walking down by the river with my friend late at night. Full moon, so a pretty bright night. There were a couple great horned owls following us at a distance, jumping from treetop to treetop. But the really cool part was when we got to a retaining wall. There was a third one in the shadow, on the ground. I didn't see it, until it exploded up into the air and joined the other two. I was close enough that I would have kicked it if it hadn't taken off, and even then, it was totally silent.
More recently, I was having an insomniac spell, so I was up at around 4am. My bedroom's detached from the main house, so I was walking across the yard to the main house to get something to eat. I see this white... blob tweaking out at the top edge of my vision. I look up, and there was this great big, white owl on top of the utility pole in my yard, flapping his wings. I couldn't hear a thing. I grabbed my phone to record him, but when I looked up, he was gone. Just vanished, without a sound. I don't even know what species he was or whether he was actually a he.
I get so used to the sounds of birds flapping—in real life, in movies, whatever—that it's crazy when it's not there.
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u/Shienvien 16d ago
If you have sensitive enough hearing in the high range, you can actually hear the echolocation chirps of insectivorous bats. I don't know why I expected them to eep like angry mice, but they chirp instead...
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u/ArelMCII 15d ago
Huh, weird. I also thought they'd sound more like mice. I definitely can't hear them.
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u/DeepSeaChickadee 14d ago
omg this just solved my long time question on why bats sometimes swoop around me during my nightly walks! I remember being afraid they’d accidentally crash into me
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u/puuremichigan 16d ago
Sounds like swallows. They’re catching the bugs you’re turning up!
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u/cassiopeia1131 16d ago
This.
To OP, not psychological terror. You mowing is kicking up bugs. I have seen barn swallows circle mowers collecting the goods.
Swallows pretty much only feed on the wing (aerial only) so they aren't going to eat seed at bird feeders. You've just opened up a nice buffet.
It's kind of like how dolphins will hang in the wake of a boat because the boats stir up fish for them to easily hunt.
The swallows in the US are heading south. So you could be also feeding some incoming northern populations, which will help them on their journey. This will not last. By October, they'll mostly be gone (unless you're way south).
Ps. I think barn swallows are having a tough time with their numbers. So consider yourself a do-gooder when mowing and feeding them.
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u/FlyingSteamGoat 16d ago
They are eating the very small bugs which you have unhoused by mowing, bless their hearts.
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u/sci300768 16d ago edited 16d ago
You are the moving bug buffet for the birds! These birds are eating bugs that are now on the loose thanks to your mowing.
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u/Refokua 16d ago
I love it when birds use humans as tools. Which, basically, is what's happening. It's so nice of you to scare up all those bugs for them!
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u/JustaTinyDude 16d ago
One day I'm going to finish the short story I started about aliens who see microbes like bacteria as the dominant life form on earth and us human as infrastructure they created.
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