We have a well-stocked bird feeder in the garden, like many other people, and this makes me think: what do birds do with their spare time if they don’t have to spend so much time looking for wild food any more? Lily Pauls
Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.
Readers reply
These days, many birds waste an incredible amount of their free time tweeting. Mobilepope
They look for cheep bargains elsewhere SignificantOther
They go off for a good old fly round, and when they get tired they retire to their nests, settle down and have a dip into the Observer’s Book of British Humans. bricklayersoption
From my garden, crows harassing the red kites for no good reason. Pigeons walking in laps round the patio for no reason I can see. Magpies standing on roofs just being dicks it seems. Too much time on their wings obviously. confused23
They plot our downfall. JohnUskglass
Dawn choir practice, murmuration tutoring, composing stories for the biaccoustic students to fathom, visiting the therapist to deal with bird flu anxiety. It’s a busy life being a bird. woodworm20
They wreck our roof. We have umpteen starlings who seemed have nested permanently in our roof. They dig under the tiles, pulling out the plastic birdproofing that we have had refitted at great expense, and make nests in and with the insulating. We have even had to have special birdproofing fitted under our solar panels. To make matters worse the old railway embankment opposite our house has been cleared of trees and shrubs for the new tram line from Amsterdam to Uithoorn. Thousands of birds were driven from their habitat and sat glumly, you guessed it, on our roof for days, when they weren’t pooing on everything. HelenAmsterdam
Evolve opposable thumbs and submit entries to notes and queries? wenders14
Here in Oxford, until the kites started appearing in numbers back in the 00s, the crows used to go to war with dump-gulls, presumably competitors for the same food source. I’ve actually seen crows lead gulls into a tree ambush, where the crows stopped dead by grasping branches, leaving the gulls to veer violently to and fro, trying not to break their wings. Now there are so many kites here, the crows and gulls sometimes seem to work together in seeing off kites during the young-raising season. greendreamer
I’m in Oxfordshire too. The red kites are nowhere near the crows’ nests. The crows also seem to tag team the harassment. The kites shake it off until they don’t and then the crows scarper. It’s fascinating. confused23
There’s a bush in the garden that is, after feeding time, full of sparrows. They appear to use their free time to engage in furious debate. However, always on the same subject, quantity. Half of them seem to think there are three, and the other half six. Six or three of what I haven’t the faintest idea, but there they go again: “Six! Six! Three! Six! Three! Three! Three! SIX!” I was going to call them the 633 Squadron, but they help to keep the mosquitoes away. bricklayersoption
There were about 50 starlings on the garden fence watching the football on Mrs Miles’s new 50in television before she drew the curtains and spoiled their afternoon. woodworm20
Well, they certainly can’t be bothered to get a job. They just lounge around with the millennials all day. Get off my lawn, dammit! JonLocke
Having spent a lifetime observing gulls, I believe that, apart from their tummies being fed, they just love sitting doing nothing, waiting to be fed, or swimming, flying and lounging on the beach. They also love raising families. I have tame gulls on my rooftop and every year they have a new baby. The previous baby is then turfed off the roof, having stayed with his parents for nearly a year. I used to breed zebra finches; their favourite occupation was nest building. Their nests were a work of art. They too loved having babies. I don’t agree with caged birds, it was my husband’s idea, but they had the run of the kitchen from early morning until bedtime. I might also add, most birds love singing, they seem to possess a joy that I find hard to fathom. Seagulls are different, they squawk, but they certainly know how to teach their young to ask for butter on their bread, they kind of dribble with their beaks and drop the unbuttered bread on to the ground. Anne_Williams
Behavioural ecologist Nick Davies pioneered the study of colour-ringed birds armed with nothing more than binoculars, a Dictaphone and a stopwatch. I’ve had a go myself with robins – it’s hard work. A quick take from the birds he was studying – pied wagtails – was that in the wild they have to spend a heck of a lot of time feeding, especially in winter. They need to catch a tiny insect every four or five seconds through the day just to maintain body weight. He gave a lecture in Edinburgh in the 80s that inspires me to this day. Nick was on The Life Scientific talking about his research and cuckoos. DeanMorrison
Blackbirds living near Wylam level crossing like to imitate the crossing alarm so they can see people running along the path to get to the pub before the crossing gate is closed. LMCollis
If they don’t need to spend so much time looking for food there are two things they will do with their time: 1) eat more; 2) make more birds. Nick Tysoe
The same as us: They loaf, explore, wander about, bother their families, harass the cat, people watch, have affairs, and probably daydream. They just don’t invent calculus (that we know of). Margaret Parrish
Besides flocking together and hanging out with their feathered friends, they are busy building nests, raising their chicks, scavenging for food and occasionally breaking into song whenever they get the urge. RPOrlando, Westmount, Quebec
Swifts fly. They perch for a relatively short time to nest and produce chicks but otherwise they are airborne: they do everything up there, yes everything, especially eat. They aren’t part of the swallow/martin family as is popularly believed but are distantly related to hummingbirds. They spend most of the day humming because (old joke alert) they don’t know the words. Fallowfield
Look down on us in sorrow, I would if I were a bird. I’d be a pigeon and shite on a Tory head – probably Rees-Mogg’s to start. Hopeandloss
They stare nastily at other birds, do activities to patrol what they think is their territory, chase other birds away or off food sources. And once a day they all make a trip to my car to poo on it. Ylaamoko
Do life better. In that they fill their time doing what they did already but more so and more often. I can’t speak too much to bigger birds, other than to say that African penguins can spend an inordinate amount of time braying to attract a mate, but I watch the hummingbirds that feed at my feeders all year round. My hummers can only stay all winter in Vancouver, Canada, care of feeders that are kept filled and ice-free (we have heaters on them). So what do my hummers do now they don’t have to migrate to follow the flower trail to Mexico? With the extra time, they get started early on breeding. Hummers that stay year round can have their first brood of the year in January, and tuck in another two to four broods after each set has fledged. The ones that have to migrate raise one to two broods fewer each year. My all-year hummers are feeding as I write with snow all around and temperatures of -4C (24F) this week. With the advantage of easy food, they live life on the large in terms of breeding more and defending their best territories. Bit like humans really. Pragmatic3202
I have observed that some birds stash surplus food, and accumulate great wealth. They then sell it on in times of hardship, typically when it gets cold and frosty. These are the Tory birds, and seem to have no social conscience – even the pervasive starling acts better for its flock. I have also observed how fat the Tory birds are becoming, and how they attract the attention of the neighbourhood cat … ClaireDB
They are engaged in survival, finding a mate and looking after family-based activities – when they are not doing that, they rest. They can’t afford to burn up calories without a reason. There was an interesting study a few years back that suggested that, in addition to tweeting to attract others, they might sing just because they like it. I do hope that is true. The world would be so much better. MarkCope
It’s not very structured; I think they just wing it. dphphd
