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From: lp@well.sf.ca.us (Lily Pond)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Do birds know who feeds them?
Keywords: birdfood
Message-ID: <25107@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 29 May 91 17:35:03 GMT
Lines: 13


I have a birdfeeder right outside my kitchen window.  I usually remember to
keep it filled.  When I go out on the front porch to fill it, the mourning
doves always sit on the phone wires and watch me (or in the tree).  They
don't fly right over or anything, but they do watch.

My question is, do they understand that I'm putting the food there for them?
When I forget to fill it, and they come over and see me through the kitchen
window, do they know it's me in there, who hasn't put the food in the feeder
(which is large and they can stand on)?

I don't really ask this out of guilt -- they get plenty of food; it's just
curiosity.  Do we know these things?  Can we extrapolate from pet birds?