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>>>> chirping from the wo Hi Everyone, The woodpecker/crow/merlin observation strikes me as being of the same nature as Cattle Egrets following herds and capturing prey disturbed by the herd's movement. It was opportunistic rather than a premeditated cooperation. I suppose in the broadest sense one could say that mutually beneficial relationships based on food, such as oxpeckers foraging for ticks on African ungulates, might fall under the umbrella of cooperative foraging. Of course in this latter example, one partner is acting as the 'bait', albeit involuntarily, and it's a case of food for one and the removal of a parasite for the other. Closer to home I would say that the cooperative, winter foraging flocks that all of us have encountered in Nova Scotia forests may be another example of cooperative foraging. The phrase "chicklet flocks" that I've seen Blake Maybank use nicely describes the close association at this time between Black-capped Chickadees and Golden-crowned Kinglets. I would also suggest that crows, ravens and gulls use each other to find sources of food that might be widely scattered but this may be information 'theft' rather than true cooperation. More in line with the spirit of several of the excellent examples already presented by Steve and others of active, inter-specific hunting, Minta, Minta and Lott (Journal of Mammalogy, 73, #4, 1992) write that coyotes and badgers mutually benefit from "temporary hunting associations" with one another. Happy holidays and happy New Year to everyone, Lance
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