So, you see that CD was able to peck a treat from a pot. He (yes, now I think he's a he) was rather worried about it and did a lot of looking and jumping backwards, but he got the treat. Then went off to bury it.
Now, that was my second pot test. The first one involved him getting a thing from the pot. Then I put down a pot with the lid placed on it - I meant to just place the lid on the pot. But it turns out that it had sort of fastened itself on. This was not fair. Still, CD had a go.
I know the bird is VERY small, but expand it as much as you can and you can see him inspecting and investigating. I wonder if the cawing at the end represents frustration??
I felt bad about the pot and wanted to make up for it. But at that point, CD saw one of the crows he doesn't like - on this occasion, one of the Driveway Trio and that led to a rapid take off and aerial pursuit with much cawing and swooping. CD always returns but will land somewhere else, still close to me, but not where he was before.
And this is the trouble. Well, part of the trouble. CD is always on the look out for attacks from the Flying Two, disputes with the Fluffy Heads, fierce battles with the Feisty Gang and the rather vicious rivalry with the Driveway Trio. In fact, if he sees the Feisty Gang being feisty he seems to think that intervention is required. If he sees the Flying Two go near the Playground Pair, he has to intervene. If he sees the Driveway Trio on the trees on his side of the footpath, he has to chase them away. It seems very stressful. The only issues with the Fluffies are when CD is too close to their patch for comfort and Mr. Fluffy fluffs up to him and makes him back off. If CD doesn't back off enough, Mr. Fluffy ups the ante.
Then there's the problem about the temptingness of the food. CD has had his fill of peanuts and seems to feel he has buried enough of them. He likes the dog treats, but they are too hard to be eaten at once. So I thought, well, bird food.
He seemed to approve of mealworms. But when I offered a range of suet, worms and seeds in a pot, his preference was clear - this is what he left.
So, suet.
But, isn't there always a but?, he doesn't eat the suet. He collects the pellets, regurgitates them, picks them up again, regurgitates them, picks them up yet again, gets distracted and flies around in fighter pursuit, comes back, with a visible lump in his throat, and then buries them.
This is hardly helpful when I need him (!) to eat the food quickly and be ready for the next test!
This morning, I gave him cat food in a pot. He liked that. But as I only had one helping in one pot and had to depart quickly to retrieve dog poo (which, this time, did not contaminate the peanuts), I was unable to follow up.
After I had done the rounds of everyone else, twice, I was going to leave the park, but wherever I went...
I left the trees and he landed near me - conveniently he has what seems like a bite out of one of his wing feathers so I can recognise him in flight. I sprinkled suet, while he was watching, and placed a leaf on top. Sweetly, he turned over five or six leaves before - BINGO! - more suet to repeatedly regurgitate and bury.
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