Do Wild Birds play with toys? (1 Viewer)

[LuBird]

Has anyone else ever observed this phenomenon?

One year I was greatly entertained by a Robin that had a small pine cone from our Hemloch tree and was playing with it on the roof of the garage. He would watch it roll almost to the edge,then grab it just before it was about to fall off carry it back up higher on the roof and let it roll down again. He did it over and over and seemed to be having the best time!:bounce:

 

[steve_nova]

Dear LuBird,

That very interesting behaviour that you have observed.

Parrots and crows which are often regarded as amongst the most intelligent birds have often been observed playing.

A terrapin in a pool has also been observed playing with a pebble carrying it around the pool and dropping it, then swimming to the bottom and bringing it up to the surface again.

Steve.

:cat:

 

[Richard Ford]

Very interesting.

One of the best know species which defiantly shows a form of "play" is the New Zealand Kea, (a large green, Parrot). I have spent some time watching them "play" with each other in captivity. They really enjoy themselves, swinging by there bills and playing with stones, sticks or anything they can get, and a form of hide and seek where they will peek out from behind rocks etc. It's quite fascinating, they are very intelligent and inquisitive birds.

I am not sure about the "science" behind it but I guess in their case it is a kind of social bonding.

I have never heard of robins playing with pinecones though, I wonder what he was doing!
Perhaps he had worked out a way to get at seeds or insects within the cone, by rolling it?

Rich

 

[birdman]

I remember seeing a TV show a few years ago which showed a species of parrot who seemed to engage in "rough and tumble" with each other for no apparent reason.

It was, at the time, the only "known" example of members of the Bird Family engaging in play.

It was also suggested that the "parrot on a bicycle" sideshows – whilst being conditioned behaviour, took advantage of this propensity to play. It was also "evidence" of a greater intelligence in parrots that many other birds.

Your story is great, LuBird, and I cannot match it with examples of birds playing with toys. However, I am convinced from what I have witnessed that in high winds, gulls (I'm useless at gulls so I don't know if I'm talking about one or more species), partake of acrobatic flying "displays" – just for the sheer enjoyment and because they can!

Now maybe I'm guilty of anthropomorphising, and maybe you are too, LuBird, but as anthropomorphs we can do nothing else. Perhaps then we have drawn the wrong conclusion.

Equally however, who's to say that birds don't play from time to time, and we simply don't recognise it.

 

[LuBird]

You know Birdman, you could be right. There is another possibility that occurs to me after reading these interesting posts and that is, meybe they start out doing something else and then it turns into play. The Robin could have started out deriving food from the cone and then discovered the fun of playing with it? Oh how I wish I could talk to the Birds and find out from them just what I am missing out on!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Barbara]

HelloTonyK, I agree with you, I'm sure animals play just for the fun of it. I've seen Magpies in my garden tormenting Squirrels (well done magpies) by pulling at the squirrels tails whilst they were eating seed on the floor. It was'nt the breeding season so i don't think they were after nest lining. they just kept on taking it in turns to dart up behind the beast and grab- sometimes hanging on for a second or two whilst the squirrel tried to bite them and shake them off, and all the time screaming at each other in fluent magpie. They kept this up for more than ten minutes until they presumably got bored. I reckon the squirrel was a bit traumatised by this-when a blackbird landed near it just after it jumped three feet up in the air! What about gulls 'playing ' with sticks and bits of weed. Are they enjoying themselves? They don't seem to soon tire of flying up, dropping their 'toy' flying down, picking it up and doing it all over again. was that how some Gulls have learnt to open shellfish,on stony beaches, or is it the other way round and they're using skills learnt as a feeding strategy to enjoy themselves? Barbara

 

[Gaye Horn]

Well I can tell you after 100's of hours watching my backyard feathers that the birds do play.. whether they know that is what they are doing or not.
My orphan Magpie has a great time chasing the jay and after the jay hides a peanut, the maggie gets it, flies by the jay and drops it and it starts all over again...
The jay plays with the peanuts.. takes one.. drops it picks it up pushes it ...rolls it, hides it ...flies away and waits til another jay comes to it and then comes back nattering away. This goes on for hours some days.
The tree swallows love it when I drop a white feather off the balcony and they swoop down and get it... they will take it higher and then drop it again only to swoop and get it before it hits the ground.
I put a bunch of bird toys(the kind one can purchase in a pet store) bells, ladders, mirrors and the birds loved them.. maggie destroyed the ladder but the wee birds liked the mirrors alot.The Steller's jays liked the bells.
This is most likely not very scientific but in my yard the birds do play, and it appears to be very social,

 

[T0ny]

I recall a note in British Birds many years ago about a Kestrel 'playing' with a sheet of cardboard which had been picked up by a gust of wind and was surfing the air currents between two office blocks in London, and also tales of corvids 'tobogganing' down sloping snowy roofs. Then of course there's film of penguins slidfing down rocks, then queuing up to do it again.

Tony

 

[steve_nova]

I have seen Rooks where I live playing tug of war with a sheet of newspaper pulling it back and forth, for no apparent reason but for fun. They were making a curious purring and clicking sound at the time which sounded more friendly than aggresive.

TOny is correct in mentioning corvids toboggoning down snow slopes as Ravens have been seen sliding on their backs down snow slopes, flying up to the top again (oh to have wings) and sliding back down again!

In the Himalaya, Carrion Crows or Thick Billed Crows (I can't remember which species now) have been observed by mountaineers (like the Seagulls in birdmans post) catching a ride on vertical updraughts of air and divebombing down to where they started from (presumebly where their friends are watching so that they can impress them!) and then riding back up at high speed and repeating this till they were presumebly bored (or nauseous)

A lot has been made of birds so called conditioned behaviour as opposed to the apparently more flexible behaviour of mammals, and certainly birds seem to exhibit more stylised behaviour especially sexually, but why should we think that excludes the rest of their lives from initiative when they have to show just as much intuition and learnt knowledge for finding food as any other relatively advanced creature.

We still have so much to learn from everything out there and it is a joy to hear and see it from every corner of the world.

 

[s. james]

The tree swallows love it when I drop a white feather off the balcony and they swoop down and get it... they will take it higher and then drop it again only to swoop and get it before it hits the ground.

Have seen the exact same behaviour in European (Barn?)swallows. The last time I saw this a house martin also got involved. When they'd finished they left the feather lying on the ground - perhaps evidence that this was indeed true play as they weren't using the feather for any practical purpose? Birds of the Western Palearctic unequivocally describes the dropping and catching of feathers in juvenile sand martins as play.

I recall a note in British Birds many years ago about a Kestrel 'playing' with a sheet of cardboard which had been picked up by a gust of wind and was surfing the air currents between two office blocks in London

Birds of the Western Palearctic states of Kestrels, "Pair may also indulge in spontaneous play, e.g. with sheet of cardboard drifting on city thermals in midsummer (Davenport 1978)." (The reference is probably to the British Birds article you mention Tony.)


Think it's generally now accepted that some species of birds play. It's been well documented in ravens and other members of the crow family.

Birds of prey, especially the juveniles, also play. I've seen groups of young sparrowhawks chasing and diving at each other and this also seems common in young kestrels.

Some brilliant observations in the thread below...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=63678&highlight=birds+playing

 

[amelia1730]

I've watched House Sparrows dropping feathers from my pergola, catching them, flying back up with them in their beaks and doing it all over again - just for the sheer fun of it!

I'm sure that lots of birds and animals do play or do something out of sheer devilment too. I once saw a very young elephant at a safari park many years ago playing with an orange which was amongst a pile of fresh fruit. He kept rolling it across the ground and running after it until he got bored. He then started throwing it at an adult elephant, possibly his Mother, who tolerated this bad behaviour for a short time and then cuffed him around the ears with her trunk! Great fun to watch.

 

[jasoneagle]

Birds playing ....

About 1996, on a VERY cold day winter day...

(Scioto Trails State Park, Ohio USA)

I watched a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.. swinging upside down on a vine like a little kid. It was -10 F. Took pics.. but long before digital, so no video.

But - there's a challenge for everyone!

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi there Jason and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

We're glad you found us and thanks for joining in. Please join in wherever you like