eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Hi all,

For those of you new to this blog, meet Toby...

Toby is a 15 pound Ragdoll cat. (Ragdolls are generally regarded as the largest breed of domestic cat.) And while Toby is big, his IQ doesn't necessarily equal his girth. In fact, at times, Toby can be "intellectually challenged". (He still struggles to open cracked doors, runs into things, flees for no reason, etc.) Regardless, there's something going on in his furry little mind. Of particular interest is his means of communication... But let's back up just a little...

In a past post, (see Crow Brains) we looked at the brains of corvids. There's little doubt that they are some of the most intelligent creatures in the animal kingdom because of the relatively large pallium areas in their brains. Conversely, there's also little doubt that Toby has a considerably smaller pallium bunch, or more accurately, a smaller "Encephalization Quotient" (animal equivalent of the human IQ) than a crow. (e.g. Crows have no problems avoiding trees. Toby on the other hand, has no problem attracting table legs with the front of his skull.)

Now, with the matter of bestial IQ in focus, let's go back to the issue of communication...

Toby is exceptional here...

• When he's frustrated, he invariably heads for the nearest corner
• There's a certain rug that means "serious play time"
• Bedtime is announced with his hop into a laundry basket

In short, Toby uses spatial markers to "talk" with us... And that's just Toby, the "intellectually challenged" cat. What are corvids (crows, jays, nutcrackers, etc.) "saying" and how are they saying it? In the case of our backyard, so far I've managed to identify two crows by both their calls (one is a slow "caw caw", and the other is a quick series of three caws) and their choice of branches. But crows also have "head bobs", clicks, hopping patterns, and who knows what else. You know, for the right person, a great "Morning Coffee" hobby might be watching a particular species of bird and noting patterns of behaviors which equate to a desired action on our part.

Hey, if Toby can talk with us, the birds certainly can...

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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