Sunday, August 19, 2018

A Post For The Birds...!

Part of me thinks this idea is great, while another part of me thinks that we are cheating by training birds to do what we don't want to. It's great that they are trained to pick up small pieces of trash and such, but I'd be willing to bet that if they didn't get their treat...no trash would be picked up.

Rooks In The Workplace



Photo credit: nottsexminer

A theme park in France has put rooks to work by teaching the birds to collect and deposit trash.

Rooks, as well as other members of the Corvidae family, have frequently been hailed as some of the smartest animals on the planet. The people at Puy du Fou theme park in Les Epesses found a practical and useful application for that intelligence. The corvids have been trained to pick up cigarette butts and other small pieces of garbage. Afterward, they deliver their cargo to specially designed bins which dispense nuggets of bird food as reward for their diligent work.

Six feathery cleaners were deployed during the successful trial run, and more have been put to work this week. It remains to be seen if the technique catches on in other places.

Like I said, I think the idea is a good one. At least now instead of picking up small pieces of trash, all they need is someone to wash away the bird poop from the area.

Coffee out on the patio this morning, where it is supposed to be a tad cooler.

7 comments:

Mamahen said...

Hmmm. I guess its ok. I'm not sure it will catch on though:))

Gorges Smythe said...

Very cool!

HermitJim said...

Hey Mamahen...
You just never know. They work pretty cheap, it seems.
Thanks for stopping by this morning!


Hey Gorges...
Yeah, it kinda is!
Thanks for coming over this morning!

Momlady said...

I reckon it's a good idea as long as they don't poop on the people.

JO said...

They are very intelligent birds like crows and black birds. I guess it's better to train them to pick it up rather than pulling out the trash. I've seen them do that have seen them get together and pull a lose fitting lid off a trash can.

I'm ready for a nice cup but don't get up I know how to find it ;)

HermitJim said...

Hey Momlady...
Now that would be a real downer.
Thanks for the visit today!


Hey Jo...
Yeah, we wouldn't want them to put out more trash than they were picking up.
Thanks, dear, for dropping by this morning!

Dizzy-Dick said...

I always thought that picking up other peoples trash was "for the birds".