Category:

Birds

Fri 13 Jun 2008

Baltimore Oriole Eating Seed

Friday, Jun 13th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Categories: Photography; Friends; Birds; Symchych, John
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Baltimore Oriole Eating Seed (photo by John Symchych)

Baltimore Oriole Eating Seed (May 2008)

Copyright 2008 by John Symchych. Used by permission.

Among his many other talents, my friend and collaborator John Symchych is an excellent photographer, and I’m pleased to share his work here. He writes:

Here’s a picture of a Baltimore Oriole eating seed from our bird feeder. They normally eat insects and fruit (can be attracted with grape jelly), and are not know to eat seed. I will be going out to The Wild Bird store today to purchase some more already shelled seed to help them out. We are seeing other species that are also feeding on seed as well.”

It’s a hungry year for songbirds: late spring snowstorms, delayed plant growth, not enough food for the early migrators. Minnesota DNR has received reports of dead or dying swallows, bluebirds, and other birds from around the state. Some years this happens: the DNR expect the bird populations to recover.
Link to article @ MPR.

For more of John’s photos, see JES Photography @ Flickr: Link.



Sat 1 Mar 2008

Training Crows to Use Vending Machines

Saturday, Mar 1st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Categories: Crows; Technology
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The more I learn about crows, the more interesting they become. Joshua Crane is training crows to use coin-operated machines:

The goal of this project is to create a device that will autonomously train crows. Initially we’re training them to deposit dropped coins they find on the ground in exchange for peanuts, but eventually we hope to be able to train them to search and rescue, or to collect garbage, or who knows! For now it’s patent pending and we’re working with a bunch of scientists, artists, and researchers to see how much it can do.

- Joshua Crane: Link.

Joshua Crane: training crows to collect coins

“Crow vending machine maker Joshua Klein”

Via Boing Boing:

Crows are smart and adaptable. For example, they drop nuts on streets so cars run over them, then wait for the traffic signal to change so they can pick up the food. Other crows who see this happen quickly learn how to do this for themselves.

His machine uses Skinnerian training. He put coins and peanuts around the machine. The crows eat the peanut on the feeder tray. Then Joshua took away the nuts and left coins in the feeder tray. It pisses off the crows. They sweep the coins around with their beaks, looking for food. When a coin accidentally drops into the slot, it dispenses a peanut. Next, Joshua took away the coins. The crows learned to find coins elsewhere and deposit them.

So now he wants to train crows for search and rescue, picking up trash, and other mutually beneficial tasks.

Mark Frauenfelder @ Boing Boing: Link.



Thu 15 Jun 2006

Crows Play Soccer

Thursday, Jun 15th, 2006 at 9:01 am
Categories: Crows; Sports
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USA Today reports:
Crows Play Soccer

TOKYO (AP) … A flock of [crows] dressed in soccer jerseys showed off their dribbling and shooting skills at a Japanese zoo as football fever gripped the nation.

The four young carrion crows at Tokuyama Zoo in western Japan used their beaks to dribble a miniature ball toward a soccer goal, sometimes tackling each other for possession before scoring, according to head zookeeper Satoru Tanaka.

The crows get tidbits every time they score, Tanaka said.

“We tried to coach owls and falcons as well, but the crows were the best. They’re such intelligent creatures,” he said.
[Link]

Via Fark



Wed 1 Mar 2000

Birds

Wednesday, Mar 1st, 2000 at 2:13 pm
Categories: Birds
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This is a placeholder, to open up the sub-categories.