– How do birds seemingly know which small bits on the ground are edible and which are not?

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You see pigeons and other birds go mad when a bunch of breadcrumbs are thrown on the ground, but seem to know not to go for small rocks, earth, and other non edible things even if they were to be thrown in the same way.

Maybe I’m just underestimating the intelligence of pigeons or their keen eyesight? But they seem to know almost instantly what they can and can’t eat.

In: Biology

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Story time! (Also my most shameful moment.) Back in college there was a river that passed through campus. There were ducks along the river and they had a seemingly endless supply of food from students thrown at them. One time, I was for whatever reason (alcohol) inspired to toss an acorn off the ground their way. A duck immediately snapped it up and started to choke. It was horrible, awful, no good, and very bad. I got the hell out of there and have no idea if the bird lived or not. That said, I did look for a dead bird the next day and did not find anything, so I like to think the bird lived. This was thirty years ago now and I still feel guilty about it.

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