Are Pheasants the dumbest bird out there? (1 Viewer)

[Malmesbury]

Hi

Been visiting the site for some time now and either I have already put in a hello or I have always forgotten.

Well I live down in Malmesbury Wiltshire and drive to work to Corsham along country lanes. Which brings me to the reason why i have tittled this tread 'Are Pheasants the dumbest bird out there?'

Well down here in the country we have quite a few shoots but many a game bird survives them and even the winter! However nearly every other day while I drive to work I have to slow down to a stop to get a Pheasant to move off the road.

Are Pheasants allowed to have death wishes or am I stupid to stop and let them think about leaving the tarmac with all their feathers intacked?

Richard of Malmesbury 3

 

[pduxon]

Hi Richard

lovely part of the country you live in. As to Pheasants? well the Ferral Pigeon comes to mind as a candidate

 

[Malmesbury]

Pete

Ferral Pigeons nah no where near close to pheasants, at least they know to leave Upton Park football ground before the game. And I was a season ticket holder at West Ham.

You will have to think harder for this tittle

Richard

 

[mark.dathorne]

Easy, Richard! My boys (The Irons) might yet make the play-offs! Harry Redknapp must still wonder about the silver lining, though!

MarkieD
(born in Queen Mary's, Stratford, East London ... lived in Manor Park, Georgetown/Guyana and now Bedfordshire)

 

[KC Foggin]

Personally, on my side of the pond, it would be the Morning Dove. I sat and watched a Mockingbird dive bomb a MODO at the feeder. Not once but try watching this a dozen times and the MODO keeps returning and acting so surprised when the Mockingbird dives at it again.

Mark, I am not sure if you have been given the formal welcome or not but welcome to Bird Forum from the entire staff.

 

[mark.dathorne]

Yesm as soon as I joined yesterday.

But thanks again, K C.


MarkieD

It's nice here!

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Once meet a guy (though I can't remember his name) who actually did his masters in bird brains. He claimed that Turkeys took the last place, thereby making them the dumbest bird out there. He also claimed that all members of the Galliformes were quite stupid, thereby including Pheasants. As for them standing on the road, almost waiting to be hit by a car, well, quite sure that has nothing to do with them being stupid. Normally standing still and pressing against the ground would be their response to seeing a predator - and usaully that would work just fine. Cars are basically to fast for them, evolution hasn't learnt them about those yet! Other than that, dominant adult males (and, at least in my experiance, those are the once most likely to be standing on the middle of the road) have an obvious reason for being "I don't really care about you, look at how big I am, would you dare to take me on?". That would normally result in more offspring. But, yet again, evolution hasn't made up for cars yet!

 

[Malmesbury]

Markie,

If you suggest that Harry Redknapp still wonders about the silver lining would that not make him a Magpie (Newcastle United Football Club) rather than the checky cockney (London Sparrow) which he is often accused of? Better drop this line before it becomes a football forum and boring.

Richard

3

 

[Malmesbury]

Rasmus

Back on to the serious point you make taken, there must be a link between body mass and brain size. Something akin to the way they compute if humans are over weight by using the body mass index. Luckily humans have regular size heads or we could suggest stupidity by the size of the brain to the rest of the body. FYI it would make me stupid if it could be computed which as dumb as I am I would deny.

Richard
3

 

[Malmesbury]

KC

The Morning Dove is not that stupid, at least it made money out of the book 'To Kill A Mockingbird', plus percentage points on the film and merchandizing. From your observations the Morning Dove seems justified to the money and the feeder.

Just my observations

Richard

3

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Sorry, dunno much about British football :h?:

Anyways, size of cerebral hemispheres compared with those of the rest of the brain (from "Handbook of the Birds of the World" vol I):

Pheasants: 3
Gulls: 4
Owls: 15
Crows 18
Parrots: 28

... and I'd guess pigeons are in the smarter end of the categori. They are wellknown for being able to learn simple trick. They are also related to parrots. The points Richard made on this group also seem to speak for themselves...

 

[steve_nova]

Very distantly related to parrots I think? Somewhat ironic then that Pigeons have among the smaller head to body size whereas Parrots have among the largest head to body sizes.

As far as brain size goes, well good wiring also counts too, so some birds with apparenly smaller brains can show similar abilities and awareness (including learning and memory) to larger types.

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Very distantly related to parrots I think? Somewhat ironic then that Pigeons have among the smaller head to body size whereas Parrots have among the largest head to body sizes.

As far as brain size goes, well good wiring also counts too, so some birds with apparenly smaller brains can show similar abilities and awareness (including learning and memory) to larger types.

Colombiformes (Pigeons and Doves) & Psittaciformes (Cockatoos and Parrots) are two related orders. Having said that, they are still seperated by millions of years. Still, they are believed to closer related to each other than most other orders.

You talk about wiring... Today it is believed that there are two main factors concerning intelligence (that are instantly recogniceable without a microscope) are brain versus total body size and amount of cerebral hemispheres (as mentioned in my previous thread). Thereby nothing to do with size of the brain alone (always in comparison with body size or other factors)...
Yet another factor is to see what the brain is made up by. Recently I heard people claiming that Great White Sharks are rather intelligent. Well, in their studies they just forgot one little detail: A very large part of a Great White's brain is made up by olfactory nerves.

 

[Jane Turner]

In my experience pigeons really are the most dim-witted birds....they seem incapable of learning from their mistakes. One pair were robbed by Carrion Crows at least 5 times in one season.

 

[steve_nova]

At work the other day a Wood Pigeon sitting on top of the pergola just sat stupidly looking at a Carrion Crow hop from beam to beam until it was close enough to "have a go". The pigeon scrabbled out of the way just in time from the stabbing pick axe beak of the crow which preceeded to circle it hopping deftly from beam to beam again until close enough for a second attempt. This happened only thirty or so feet away from me. The crow I presume will have chicks in the nest to feed. The Wood Pigeons nest isn't too far away either so perhaps it was just keeping away from the nest so not drawing attention to it so perhaps not that stupid after all (unless that is just instinct?).

 

[Dave Smith]

I remember seeing a pheasant try to hide from me behind a nearby telegraph pole. The only part hidden was it's head.

Dave

 

[mark.dathorne]

Aaaah, the old ostrich trick, Dave ... gives great security!
"I can't see him therefore ... !"

Heh heh!

MarkieD
Beds.

 

[Anthony Morton]

In my experience pigeons really are the most dim-witted birds....they seem incapable of learning from their mistakes. One pair were robbed by Carrion Crows at least 5 times in one season.

EVERYONE must know that you hate pigeons by now, Jane - but then, POBODY'S NERFECT!

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Well, I'm not to pleased with those city pigeons either (but I do love those fruit-doves!). Anyways, back on the subject. There's presumeably another way to estimate intelligence on animals. Do the species need it with it's lifestyle? Growing a brain is expensive business, uses a lot of energi. So, if your whole life is basically about picking up seeds, why bother with the iq-test? On the other hand, being an omnivore like a crow's and jay's. Hey, then it's good to be the smartest... then you can use even more foodsources

 

[Anthony Morton]

I seem to remember reading something a few years ago which suggested that the reason so many birds get killed on the roads is because they do not have the ability to judge the speed of vehicles travelling at more than 40 mph. This was the same for all species, not just pheasants, but I suppose their larger size, and especially the colourful nature of the cock's plumage, make them still highly visible when 'splattered' across the road.