Dennis,

Well the Starling didn't get caught in your trap, did it? So, who's not
smart?

Gene Hunn.

On Wed, 28 Jun 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> I trapped some starlings yesterday, for medical research, and it confirmed
> without a doubt our traditional conclusion about bird brains in action. It
> was a simple walk-in wire-mesh trap with a door at one end and a treadle in
> the middle. The suet bait was behind the treadle, so nearer the back end
> of the trap. The starlings would walk back and forth around the back end
> of the trap, trying to "figure out" how to get to the suet, which was close
> to them, and almost never going around to the front to check accessibility
> from that direction. It seemed that only if by accident they went by the
> front of the trap would they realize there was a gaping hole there that
> allowed access to the suet!
>
> This is a classic case of the no-brain bird approach to "problem-solving."
> And I've always thought that starlings were reasonably intelligent as birds
> go.
>
> Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
> Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
> University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
> Tacoma, WA 98416
>
>
>