Do you have any smart birds in your area?

[SteveSS]

I'm starting to see the swifts come back. They dart around at stoplights doing some awesome aerobatics. They've learned that moths and such that were under your car's hood for warmth escape while your car is stopped at a red light. The bugs try to exit and the swifts pick them off. When my phone is fixed I'll try to get a video.

We have a bunch of crows and ravens that hang around one intersection by my house. There is a Popeye's Chicken place and a McDonalds. They must throw a bunch of food out because those birds are always looking. I usually save my last few bites of a burger then toss it out and those big black birds come for it. They are so smart they understand vehicles and will just hop a few feet out of the way of a car.

I've been seeing more Magpies. So very clever too. When you're catching rays on the outside decks of ski resorts, you hold up a french fry with an extended arm and they swoop down and grab your french fry. They must be close relatives of crows. They like to eat dry dog/cat food more than seeds. We live on the upper edge of a valley and the Ravens cruise the updrafts all day without flapping a wing. Crows can't do it. Only hawks, buzzards, eagles, and Ravens. Do you have these birds or other clever birds in your area? I think they have some Magpies in Australia.

 

[SteveSS]

Sorry for the long post but I think scientists are just now figuring how smart some of these birds are. They can definitely use tools.

 

[myk r sanchez]

Never even heard of such a creature. I'll definitely keep an eye out...

 

[polywideblock]

yes we have them

 

[YY1]

When I still lived with my mom, someone on the other side of the block had an external speaker for their phone ringer. It was a newer style phone and sounded somewhat like a Nortel business style ring.

Anyway, there was a crow family bird perhaps a mocking bird that would repeat that phone ringer sound.
The only way to tell it wasn't the phone was that it was coming from a tree.

That bird also did not like it when I came home late.

It would squawk and squawk as soon as I got out of the car.

One night we had an argument and I progressively raised my voice and used sharper words/sounds.

I guess I won because that bird only squawked at me one or two more times after that.

 

[copper67sat]

We were missing a few panels out our pool screen enclosure after a hurricane near-miss a few years ago. We have a lot of cardinals in our area in the Spring. One male figured out that there were bugs, especially moths, trapped in our screen enclosure. He came by every morning for a hearty breakfast. He'd come in through one of the openings, fly up and grab a moth off the inside of the screen and then land by the pool to eat it. After about a week, he started bringing a female with him. First time we saw him out there, we thought he was stuck and couldn't find his way out, but he flew out an opening as soon as i went out to help him so he knew how to get in/out. Something the bugs never figured out.

 

[dartforforty]

My wife has a humming bird feeder that attracts them every year.
Saw the first two the other day.

 

[moparedtn]

We get 'em all out here on the ridge.... anything from bald eagles to owls to buzzards to peacocks.
Turkeys are thick, too. Orioles, bluejays, hummingbirds by the dozen and yeah, big-mouthed noisy crows.

My favorites are probably the black swifts that have nested on the edge of our field for several years now.
I can almost guarantee that every time I get out on the tractor to mow the yard" (about 3 acres) each week,
those rascals will come out to play - and they stay out there with me sometimes for more than 15 minutes!

A handful of them like to practice strafing runs at the tractor and get some really amazing speeds going over that big field, their split tails quite visible as they buzz the tractor fore and aft.
I've never had any of them actually make contact with me or the tractor; although I'm sure it's a protection thing they do (I must get close to their nest at points in my mowing), it seems more like they're just having fun and getting some exercise in.
I look for them at the first mowing each year but it's usually a month or so into the season before they come out, so I should be seeing them soon.
It's oddly reassuring when they first appear for some reason.

 

[Speedbird]

I'm starting to see the swifts come back. They dart around at stoplights doing some awesome aerobatics. They've learned that moths and such that were under your car's hood for warmth escape while your car is stopped at a red light. The bugs try to exit and the swifts pick them off. When my phone is fixed I'll try to get a video.

We have a bunch of crows and ravens that hang around one intersection by my house. There is a Popeye's Chicken place and a McDonalds. They must throw a bunch of food out because those birds are always looking. I usually save my last few bites of a burger then toss it out and those big black birds come for it. They are so smart they understand vehicles and will just hop a few feet out of the way of a car.

I've been seeing more Magpies. So very clever too. When you're catching rays on the outside decks of ski resorts, you hold up a french fry with an extended arm and they swoop down and grab your french fry. They must be close relatives of crows. They like to eat dry dog/cat food more than seeds. We live on the upper edge of a valley and the Ravens cruise the updrafts all day without flapping a wing. Crows can't do it. Only hawks, buzzards, eagles, and Ravens. Do you have these birds or other clever birds in your area? I think they have some Magpies in Australia.

The only Magpie I've seen in person was coming out of Oregon into Idaho on the road one morning.
Flew up with the long tail and I didn't know what it was.
Looked like the one in this picture.
https://www.dl-online.com/sports/ou...are-smart-and-striking-and-they-hold-funerals

https://www.britannica.com/story/eurasian-magpie-a-true-bird-brain

 

[Durandal25]

I've had a nest of Starlings on my front porch for about 4 years. Love to see them hatch each year and move on......but, the bird-duke......I could do without that.

 

[chargervert]

I thought I had them too,but it was a drone that photographed all my unregistered cars, took my temperature to see if I had the virus and is now currently tracking my phone for my contact information!

 

[Hey-O]

Had my ram pickup that I parked outside in the driveway, that I used very rarely. Every year for 3 or 4 years a bird built a nest in the frame rail. The mother would sit on the no parking this side of the street sign, right behind the truck and wait, then fly down feed and go and repeat all day. Once I had to use the truck to take car parts to be blasted and as we were standing by the truck the guy said that he heard birds. I told him the story and I said that I had to leave and get the truck home, like now! When I got home the mother was waiting on the sign and as soon as I parked and got out, she flew down and started the whole thing all over as if I never moved the truck!!!! It was fun to watch and I hated bothering her!!!

 

[64BEL]

Here are a couple of smart (***) Magpies.

We get all kinds of birds around our house. We keep a heated birdbath going year round and feed. It's about time to get the grape jelly and oranges out for the Orioles. Maybe I'll do that today. Yes, I'm an unapologetic bird nerd.

 

[68Moparmaniac]

The wife and I were in Oceanside, Ca. harbor. While we were walking along the boardwalk I saw a seagull standing on the opening of one of those trashcans with the flip open door. When we got closer I saw food and stuff getting tossed out from inside the trashcan while the seagull was holding the door open. As soon as we got close to the can another seagull flew out from INSIDE the trashcan. Resourceful little shits is all I can say...

 

[the mississippi madman]

Hawks follow me when I bushhog my field and they grab rabbits when they try to escape the grass cutting

 

[SteveSS]

This guy made me laugh.

 

[Budnicks]

Jays & peckers are all smart, so are blackbirds & especially crows/Ravens
so are the little sparrows/swallows or hummingbirds

birds of prey are my favorite, hawks, falcons, peregrines etc.
they take out the worthless & some of the nuisance birds
& along with rodents, squirrels
we have them all rousting/nesting in the back 40
we don't have many eagles here

God I hate the fucken' Acorn Woodpeckers
Black & white with a ting of red on their cheeks, that we have
destroying **** everywhere...
Pounding on the chimney pipe, destroying the wood trim
pecking & hiding ****/acorns in the hole, on all the corners of my house...

I wish we could shoot every last freaken' one of them...

fucken' flying rats IMO

 

[YY1]

My boss told me a story a few weeks ago about a neighbor he used to have that fed a crow so much it would follow her car to the store, wait and follow her back.

Crows/ravens/magpies/mocking birds are all in the same family and smart.

 

[toolmanmike]

My wife has a humming bird feeder that attracts them every year.
Saw the first two the other day.

I got my 2 feeders cleaned and filled. I have been watching the migration map. Getting close here in NE Iowa.

https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-migration-spring-2020-map.htm

 

[64BEL]

I've seen fish heads and egg shells in our bird bath that crows have brought in from the neighbor's trash down around the corner. I think they like to dunk that stuff when they eat it.