Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!matt.ksu.ksu.edu!rdmiller From: rdmiller@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Ruth D Miller) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Do birds know who feeds them? Keywords: birdfood Message-ID: <1991May29.204808.7956@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> Date: 29 May 91 20:48:08 GMT References: <25107@well.sf.ca.us> Sender: news@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu (The News Guru) Organization: Kansas State University Lines: 13 Nntp-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu In article <25107@well.sf.ca.us> lp@well.sf.ca.us (Lily Pond) writes: >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)? > It certainly seems reasonable to me that birds recognize who feeds them. Mourning doves, though not the brightest birds going, are not dumb either, and we've heard here of red-winged blackbirds who recognize "regular" humans, and pet birds know one human from another. So why not? Ruth