Paranoid or merely confused?

Can birds be paranoid? Confused? Do birds make mistakes? Could a bunch of Tufted Titmice mob a broken-off branch covered with ivy and dead leaves thinking it was an owl? The Titmice in question were right outside our back door and they were angry! Very angry! When titmice are angry, you know it. if only by the sound they make. These birds kept returning to the same spot over and over again. They couldn't make the 'owl' move but neither could they admit that they were mobbing a piece of wood and a bunch of leaves. When I first heard the commotion, I ran out thinking that for sure I was going to find an owl right out our back door. But there was nothing -- nothing but leaves, dead and alive, wood and a few berries. These birds were very clear about where their anger was aimed and they were both consistent and persistent but there was no owl (no cat, no hawk, no cuckoo, nothing remotely logical as a source for their anxiety). These mobbing scene usually attract the attention of other birds but, interestingly enough, the only others present were a couple of Downy Woodpeckers. Even the fabled owl-hating Blue Jays neglected to show up. Eventually I gave up and so did the Titmice.

There was heavy dew this morning, a fair amount of fog, and a good migration with lots of Catbirds and Yellowthroats bouncing around in the hurricane-delapidated 'migrant trap' -- the densely vegetated area just beyond the pond and at the foot of the oak and pine woods. Further up the marsh there was a small flock of Chickadees and Titmice accompanied by a few warblers: Am Redstart, Black-and-white and a Chestnut-sided in that beautiful fall plumage (eye ring, wing bars, green back) trying to shake off the dew and doing his toilette quite high in an oak tree. Besides the usual Osprey there was a Red-tailed Hawk over the marsh and a few Royal Terns flying up the creek.

Eric Salzman