The Genius of Birds

by Jennifer Ackerman

Several observers noted instances of green herons using insects as bait, placing them delicately on the surface of the water to lure fish. A herring gull adapted its normal shell-dropping technique to nail a rabbit. Among the more inventive examples: bald eagles ice fishing in northern Arizona. The birds had discovered a cache of dead fathead minnows frozen under the surface of an ice-covered lake. They were seen chipping holes in the ice, then jumping up and down on the surface, using their body weight to push the minnows up through the holes. One of Lefebvre’s favorites was the report of vultures in Zimbabwe that perched on barbed-wire fences near minefields during the war of liberation, waiting for gazelles and other grazers to wander in and detonate the explosives. It gave the birds a ready-made meal already pulverized. However, says Lefebvre, “occasionally a vulture got caught at its own game and was exploded by a mine.”

Fascinating!