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Montreal (pte031/22.02.2005/12:30) - Crows that are capable of creating tools to dig up grubs and falcons that recognise the sound of gunshots have topped the first IQ table for birds. As The Scotsman http://news.scotsman.com reports, the survey of 2,000 observations by ornithologists showed that some birds display imaginative behaviour to rival that of great apes and humans.
Among the examples, collected by Louis Lefebvre, of McGill University http://www.mcgill.ca in Montreal, Canada, was a story of wartime vultures that waited by a minefield for animals to be blown up. Their macabre behaviour was spotted during the civil war in Zimbabwe by a border guard. "They would actually perch on the barbed wire and wait for the minefields to give them chopped antelope," said Lefebvre. Certain breeds of hawk have also used such associative behaviour. Attracted by the noise of gunshots, the ferruginous hawk, native to North America, preys on prairie dogs left behind by hunters.
According to the report, the most skilled tool users were New Caledonian crows, which fashioned specially shaped implements out of leaves to catch insects. There were also numerous sightings of fly-fishing herons, which caught insects and laid them, lure-like, on the surface of the stream to attract fish, retrieving them for another try if nothing took the bait. The report also cited gulls as having creative feeding methods. They frequently dropped shells on to rocks to break them - and they had even been spotted doing the same with small rabbits.
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