Here's why you should be proud to be bird brained

BEING called “bird-brained” should no longer be seen as an insult. Quite the opposite, in fact, for research is showing that wild birds can be intelligent animals, with crows being the brightest of them all — second only to people.

Try to keep crows away from crops, or from bird-feeders designed for smaller species, and you’’ll quickly discover what a challenge they can present. I’ve seen tenacious crows twist, shake and turn birdseed containers upside down in order to get at the food.

Louis Lefebvre, a researcher at McGill University, Montreal, who has developed a technique for gauging birds’ IQ based on their problem-solving skills, has concluded the American crow is the smartest of them all.

If he did tests on the Irish crow family, which also includes ravens, magpies, choughs and others, he might make a similar finding.

According to Welcome Wildlife, crows have been known to use breadcrumbs to bait fish, to drag in fish lines to get at caught fish and to use wheels of passing cars to crack nuts.

All of which brings us to a talk, on October 27, by UCC zoology Prof John Quinn during the annual autumn talks series run by Killarney National Park. While studying for a doctorate, he became interested in how predators affect the behaviour of birds and of the role personality and intelligence play in determining how individuals survive in the wild. The series gets underway this Thursday night (October 6), with RTÉ journalist Seán Mac An tSithigh speaking on the night sky in Irish folklore. The subject is relevant, given the designation of Dark Sky reserves here and growing problem of light pollution.

On October 13, Liam Lysaght, who heads up the National Biodiversity Data Centre in Waterford, addresses the subject: what did biodiversity (the variety of animal and plant life in the world) ever do for us?

A key part of Mr Lysaght’s job is to document Ireland’s wildlife and to track how it is changing over time. He began his professional career as a park ranger, first in Connemara National Park then the Burren National Park.

On October 21, Niamh Roche, who completed a PhD on bats in woodlands, will talk about that very subject. She has worked on Bat Conservation Ireland monitoring schemes since 2004. She is co-author of the book, Irish Bats in the 21st Century, published by Bat Conservation Ireland in 2014.

On November 3, Liz Morgan, a senior landscape conservation architect with the OPW, will tell about the restoration of the gardens of Killarney House. The series will end, on November 10, with a talk on remarkable trees by Aubrey Fennell, an expert on trees and author of the book, Heritage Trees of Ireland.

All the talks will be in the Killarney Plaza Hotel, commencing at 8pm. Admission is free.