I was surprised at how well the birds in Bill and Alice’s yard seemed to get along. Three or four were often pecking simultaneously at different sections of the birdseed block. Occasionally a quail would get annoyed and charge a nearby quail, but, for the most part, they acted like there was enough food for everybody. — which there obviously was. None of the birds even seemed disturbed by the raucous calls of the Gila Woodpecker that startled me every time it landed on the palm.
But, as we all know, there’s always that neighbor who just can’t get along with others and wants everything for himself. In this case, that neighbor was the Curve-billed Thrasher who would let out a raucous call from the top of the wall,
chasing away the other birds before landing on the top of the seed block,
fending off the other birds
until it found the perfect seed
and walked away with his prize.