Bird brain or not?

by Andy Ruffle

(Photo Andy Ruffle)

This little chappy (a Red-capped Robin-chat) suffered the misfortune of flying into a post after I had startled him whilst I was gardening on saturday (30th April). Appearing slightly stunned (the bird that is), I rescued him from the gaping jaws of our pups and placed him (for arguments sake) on the bird table to recover. A handful of home reared mealworms awaited his return to normality.

A quick inspection of the bird table shortly afterwards, revealed neither bird nor mealworms, a sure sign, I hoped, that he had recovered fully.

The next morning I was awoken by an incessant Treee-trooo, treee-trooo coming from outside the bedroom window. There, sitting on a branch just by the bird table was another Red-capped Robin-chat. Could it be the same one I wondered. I hastily fetched some mealworms and popped them onto the table, giving a mimic whistle as best I could. Sure enough, as soon as I had vacated the area, he was on the table munching away.
Needless to say, this has now become a regular routine every morning.
Who ever thought up the term 'bird brain' must be a bird brain, as this little critter certainly knows his stuff:):)