Hairy woodpecker at our feeder.
After more than a year away, 20 minutes after I put food out for the birds, they were back in abundance. It is clear that mixed flocks travel together, so when someone makes a discovery, it goes back to tell the others. But how was our renewed feeding discovered? Smells? Does someone make the rounds of the old places on the off chance? Sheer luck?
Okay. You have me stumped on the birds finding food thing. So I did a search.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MigratoryBirds/Science_Article/default.cfm?id=36
most birds do not have a well developed sense of smell, and do not use it to find food.
I did like the comment someone posted after the article that said:
"I was looking for more info about bird's ability to smell. I was in a costco parking lot a few days ago and spotted a pick-up truck that was being mobbed by a flock of crows. When I went to check it out I saw a large bag of dog food with a small hole that was made by the crows. My guess is that they could either smell the food or read the label."