The World's Most Intelligent Bird!

I am fascinated by the wildlife that abounds here on the Bayou. It seems that every day that passes brings some new and interesting discovery. Sometimes it is a new animal or bird that I have not seen before and the other times it may be one of my old "friends" that just does something that surprises me. Today's topic is the latter of these two..one of the "usuals" on the Bayou that startled me with its ingenuity! For those who do not believe that animals and birds think and reason..I say hogwash! All you need do is sit and watch for a while and you will realize that sometimes reasoning is the only explanation for some action.

Near the pier there is the wallowed out hole that becomes a landlocked pool when it is low tide in the Bay. Here, small minnows and sometimes large fish become trapped and are easy targets for predators such as the herons, egrets and otters. Even the little Garter Snake finds a fast and easy meal. But none of these appears to be as smart as the Little Green Heron. This is a rather small heron as herons go but it also seems to be one of the smartest. I watched as this bird tried its best to catch a meal of bull minnows in the shallow water. It would stand as still as a stone statue, waiting..waiting for the minnows to gather near and then plunge its head into the water to snag a fish. After several unsuccessful attempts, it finally gave up on minnows and turned its attention to the Fiddler Crabs. It eyed up a nice fat one and struck fast and clean. It had its supper! But instead of gulping down the whole crab, the bird ripped it in pieces..eating only some. It then picked up a small piece of the dead Fiddler Crab and dropped it into the water. Immediately, the bull minnows..being the voracious feeders they are..surrounded the tidbit and started a feeding frenzy. Now, the Green Heron could scoop up minnow after minnow! This bird was smart! It was using bait to catch fish! Each time the bull minnows would finish off the bait, the Little Green Heron would merely toss in another piece and stand still. It would wait until the minnows came to it. What a fisherman! This bird had reasoned that if it wanted fish, a trap had to be set..a bait had to be used. Now that is one smart bird!

The Green Heron is a rather small, stocky heron standing only about seventeen inches tall. It more oft than not will stand with its neck pulled back tight against its body making it seem even shorter than it really is. It is more of a nocturnal bird than diurnal, preferring to feed in the early morning or late evening hours and then retreating back to a sheltered area during the middle of the day. It is also a bit of an antisocial bird as it rarely is seen with others except during nesting season. Actually, the only time I have ever seen more than one in a given area is during the fledgling stage when the parent birds are teaching the young how to fish. Those skills most likely are passed from one generation to another. It seems that this is one of the few tool-using birds and this action has earned it the title of being one of the world's most intelligent birds according to many ornithologists. I am still amazed at my tool-using bird!