Chickadee brainpower
Reid Carron
I knew the basics of this behavior, but not the magnitude of it. The killing is unfortunate, but I assume essential to the study. Does anyone know whether research exists on the effect, if any, of bird feeders? The black-capped chickadees at our feeders clearly consider the sunflower seeds to be takeout, so I assume winter feeding just blends seamlessly into their normal behavior.
Tiny chickadees grow bigger brains when needed
https://strib.gift/i24gzp9cy
clever...@gmail.com
For some reason the link didn’t work for me, but I was able to access it directly at Tiny chickadees grow bigger brains when needed.
I knew a Canadian researcher had documented that gray (Canada) jays can store and retrieve over 100,000 food items in a season, which I found mindboggling but accepted because I’ve always thought they were a notch or two above most other birds in the intellect department. (Thus my email address.) But trying to comprehend how chickadees, with even smaller brains, can do a nearly comparable feat makes my brain want to explode when I think about it. Next time someone hurls the “birdbrain” insult my way, I can respond “I wish!”
Steve Wilson
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