Wells-man
the user formerly known as Ken Tone
I always thought pheasants were particularly stupid birds. I can never see how anyone can think shooting them is sport, even ignoring the moral aspect; they seem to be bred to be daft, presumably to make it easier for 'sportsmen' to shoot them.
Most winters I get one coming as a regular visitor to my garden -- a different one each year, but always quite tame, which is another reason why shooting them is no sport. Usually they fit every stereotype. They 'hide' behind a stick a fraction of their size, they run away from good hiding places squawking their heads off thereby attracting attention, they fail pathetically to understand how to get food, etc.
However this year's regular, quite distinctive with some very slight leucistic tendencies, breaks the mould. After several weeks of standing, lost, beneath the bird table feeders, picking up the scraps dropped by much smaller birds, he tried flying up. A few days then followed with him flying up often and sitting puzzled on top of the bird table roof, wondering why that hadn't worked. He looked as if he could have scratched his head, he would have done -- the image of Stan Laurel came to mind
But then a week or so ago, genius struck. He now sits beneath the feeder, gathers his strength and himself bodily 3 feet or so upwards, with his wings still tightly folded against his body, like some bird version of a punk-rocker 'pogo-ing', and headbuts the bottom of the feeder. This of course dislodges lots of seeds and nuts which fall to his feet.
Result, one very well-fed pheasant, albeit with a slight headache!
Apparently they're not all stupid!
K.
Most winters I get one coming as a regular visitor to my garden -- a different one each year, but always quite tame, which is another reason why shooting them is no sport. Usually they fit every stereotype. They 'hide' behind a stick a fraction of their size, they run away from good hiding places squawking their heads off thereby attracting attention, they fail pathetically to understand how to get food, etc.
However this year's regular, quite distinctive with some very slight leucistic tendencies, breaks the mould. After several weeks of standing, lost, beneath the bird table feeders, picking up the scraps dropped by much smaller birds, he tried flying up. A few days then followed with him flying up often and sitting puzzled on top of the bird table roof, wondering why that hadn't worked. He looked as if he could have scratched his head, he would have done -- the image of Stan Laurel came to mind
But then a week or so ago, genius struck. He now sits beneath the feeder, gathers his strength and himself bodily 3 feet or so upwards, with his wings still tightly folded against his body, like some bird version of a punk-rocker 'pogo-ing', and headbuts the bottom of the feeder. This of course dislodges lots of seeds and nuts which fall to his feet.
Result, one very well-fed pheasant, albeit with a slight headache!
Apparently they're not all stupid!
K.