Behavior

Palmchats most frequently forage in the canopy, although they also descend to lower levels. They are active foragers, "often seeming alert and vivacious with much character in pose and attitude" (Wetmore and Swales 1931). They also perch "with body erect and tail pointing straight down [when] they apprea rather stolid and heavy" (Wetmore and Swales 1931). Bond (1928) occaionally observed groups of Palmchats perched high in a tree, all members of the group facing in the same direction, behavior that reminded him of waxwings (Bombycillidae). Palmchats roost communally in the same large structures in which they nest (Wetmore and Swales 1931).

Palmchats are gregarious birds. They forage, nest, and sleep in groups of 16-20 individuals. The nesting site is shared and defended by multiple pairs, while only individual chambers are defended by a single pair (Dod 1992). There is no information on the home range size of Palmchat.

Little is known about the displays or sexual behavior of Palmchat. Palmchats nest in small colonies that share a single nest structure with individual nest chambers; presumably the pairs are at least socially monogamous.

Palmchats are very social creatures, traveling in groups composed of several pairs, or several pairs and they young; they also roost and breed communally (Wetmore and Swales 1931). Often times in a flock, Palmchats sit together on the same perch with their bodies touching (Dod 1992).

Ridgway's Hawk (Buteo ridgwayi) frequently builds its nest on top of the large nests of Palmchat (Thorstrom et al. 2005). Greater Antillean Grackle (Quiscalus niger) also has been observed nesting on the side of a Palmchat nest (Wetmore and Swales 1931).

Palmchats, like other birds on the island of Hispaniola, are hunted by locals for food (Dod 1992). There are no non-anthropogenic documented cases of predation on the Palmchat, although presumably birds of prey and other predators prey on the Palmchat and/or its eggs and chicks.