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Birds Store IDs On People

Nanci

Nanci

Alien Lover
(I love mockingbirds...)

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090519/ARTICLE/905191062/-1/NEWSSITEMAP

"WASHINGTON - Mockingbirds may look pretty much alike to most people, but they can tell humans apart and are quick to react to folks they do not like.

"This shows a bird is much more perceptive of its environment than people had previously suspected." A mockingbird grazes the head of University of Florida biology major Devon Duffy last month in an attempt to drive her away from its nest on the university campus in Gainesville. Research shows that the birds rapidly learn to identify people who have previously threatened their nests.

Birds rapidly learn to identify people who have previously threatened their nests, and the animals sound alarms and even attack those folks, while ignoring others nearby, researchers report in today's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...."
 
I wonder if you can teach them to dislike people that you dislike? That would be great and I would then buy a flock of them, show them a few photos and not have to worry about any unwanted visitors, any longer! LOL!!

Wayne
 
I've experienced similar reactions with large parrots...

About 2 years ago, the shop I work at got a baby blue and gold macaw. I mean...baby. He was still in an incubator with zero feathers and being hand-fed 6-8 times a day when we got him...just a week or so out of the egg.

Anyhow...I fell in love with this bird from day one, and he responded to me the same way. We just clicked, and adored each other. It broke my heart when he finally got sold.

I had seen Frankie's new owner around town a few times about a year after he bought Frankie. So I asked hinm to bring the bird in for a visit.

When Frankie got to the shop, you could see the recognition in his eyes. Everywhere he looked he was pinning his pupils and trying to remember why he knew this place. When he saw me, he was very curious...

I tried to get him to step on my hand, and he took a half-hearted strike at my fingers. Than I said, "Aww, Frankie, don't be mad", and he pinned his eyes, stared at me, and said, "Hi" in a real soft sing-song voice.

He then stepped off his owners shoulder and onto my hand, and curled up like a little baby in my arms, and reached up with his beak to preen my beard and kiss my face. He went from being a protective, 1 year old macaw, to a hand-feeding baby within an instant, and he acted like a little baby with me all day.

It was really a neat thing to watch. You could literally see the realizations creep into his conscious memory while he looked around and heard me speak to him. Really a trip...
 
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