Erwin Driessens
Well-known member
I'm often puzzled how one bird can recognize another bird from a distance. For example, while I was observing a popular jackdaw nest site in spring, a jackdaw was sitting near to its selected nest hole. It looked like it was protecting it. Sometimes another jackdaw flew in, and was accepted without problems (I suppose this was the partner). But other times a jackdaw flew in that was protested against, even before landing. A jackdaw can apparently recognize another jackdaw at a couple of meters distance, in a fraction of a second. Personally, I could not detect any difference between them.
I figure it is a matter of what the brain pays attention to, and each species being highly tuned to interpret other members of the species. Would it be possible, as a human, to tell apart a few very similar looking/sounding individuals of the same species?
A lot of you have a garden with feeders, where you see the same birds on a regular basis. Can you discriminate between them?
I figure it is a matter of what the brain pays attention to, and each species being highly tuned to interpret other members of the species. Would it be possible, as a human, to tell apart a few very similar looking/sounding individuals of the same species?
A lot of you have a garden with feeders, where you see the same birds on a regular basis. Can you discriminate between them?