A return to “normal” with the Johnny Rooks

After 6 days of travel including wind delays, fog, and a stop in Cape Verde, we finally made it to Saunders Island, Falklands. This is a homecoming for Katie, who’s been working here for so long, and Megan is ecstatic about her first visit to the island. The Pole-Evans, who own Saunders, are as welcoming and generous as ever, and the rooks are here, seemingly eager for whatever it is we have to offer.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be banding individuals for continued long term monitoring, and trying to find out more about their intelligence.

We want to know why they’re so attracted to new objects (that is, why do they fly off with your things?), and how quickly they’re able to solve completely unfamiliar challenges. This will tell us more about how they cope in the future with changing environmental conditions.  

First, we’ll present the birds with some wacky new objects that Katie crafted in Vienna to see if it gives them pause when approaching food they like. Then we’ll give them different sets of objects to see what colors, shapes, and other properties they’re most attracted to. For our grand finale, we’ll give the birds a puzzle box with multiple unique challenges that they can solve for food.

While anecdotes abound, we’re here to formally research this, and can’t wait to see how the Johnny rooks compare to other animals and what they can tell us about the evolution of bird intelligence.

More updates to follow! Feel free to contact us with any thoughts and questions.