Wild Birds Survive By Being Quick Studies

Saying that a person has a “bird brain” is an insult to birds. Some birds, especially crows, ravens and magpies, have more sense than many of their detractors.

Ducks and geese may not be the most brilliant birds. That honor goes to members of the crow family. But they learn quickly when steel shot zips through their tails.

It’s the same with pheasants. A rooster’s brain may not be much larger than a pea; however, it quickly learns to avoid those two-legged killers who wear orange vests.

Some birds, just like people, never learn and they pay the price. Once in a while, to the delight of hunters, ducks and geese will, without circling, drop their landing gear and head for decoys. Usually, those birds are alone or in small flocks and they haven’t yet learned to be wary.

I’ve been hunting birds for more than 65 years and am no longer surprised when they exhibit something that we humans call intelligence. I’m not even surprised when a bird almost invites execution.

A few days ago, while hunting on a big lake with Dr. Al Stier, I was reminded again that most geese learn fast once a hunting season starts.

We were a little late arriving at the fog-enshrouded lake. We could hear thousands of Canada geese talking among themselves in the center of the lake. Geese talk a lot when they’re bunched up in big flocks. To waterfowl hunters, the honks are the classical music of the bird world.

While we were erecting a makeshift blind, 10 to 15 geese, all honking, suddenly appeared through the fog and flew over us about 30 feet high. Our guns were still unloaded. What’s that about “bird brains?”

Geese and ducks frequently fly low in fog. As the fog lifts so do the birds, climbing fast after leaving water.

We loaded our guns and began putting out a couple dozen decoys along the shoreline. Then another flock appeared out of the fog. We thought we even heard their wings flapping.

Our guns were too far away for us to get them in time to shoot.

When we were ready, the geese weren’t. We sat in the blind and waited and waited. Finally, the honking on the lake grew louder. We knew from experience that geese often become highly vocal just before they fly. We got ready to shoot, our left hands on the shotgun stocks and our right hands around the grips. Hunkered down, we stared into the fog, hoping to see a flock flying low.

Most flocks left to the north or south of us, too far away for us to shoot. However, a few flocks came over us, some after they saw the giant shell decoys in front of the blind. None was lower than 50 to 60 yards, about the maximum range for us, and all the birds were flying fast.

We touched off a few frustration shots. No geese fell.

While we were watching a noisy flock on one side of us, a lone, silent goose passed only about 40 feet over us. We saw it just as it flew out of shotgun range.

Stier got lucky the next time a lone goose emerged through the fog, honking happily as it contemplated joining its peers. He dropped it with a few well-placed steel shot.

As the fog lifted, the geese out in the middle of the lake did what they nearly always do after they’ve learned to avoid decoys. They climbed into the ozone as fast as a fighter jet. They had learned they would be safe after they were 200 or more yards above the lake and shoreline.

We picked up our decoys, dismantled the blind and went home, a little bit wiser, but not much, in the ways of waterfowl.

No one can convince us that geese don’t learn from experience.

Earlier, mallards had shown us how fast they learn to avoid decoy spreads and turn on their after-burners when the decoys were dead in the water and hunters’ calls were, to the ducks, off key.

It took the mallards that had been living on and near the lake only two days to avoid decoys that didn’t move and to stay away from spots from which came quacks that remotely resemble the calls ducks make. Most ducks, flying at least 50 miles an hour, zoomed over or near decoys at 100 to 300 yards above the water.

Then one day we were shocked when mallards began landing or trying to land among our decoys. We knew immediately that those birds were “northern ducks,” or birds from Canada. They had yet to learn to avoid lifeless decoys and screwed up calling.

They were fast learners, though. The next time we hunted at the lake the ducks had graduated magna cum laude from Duck University. We had to resort to pass shooting.

The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher said more than 100 years ago that “if men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.” Most waterfowl hunters would add ducks and geese to Beecher’s tribute to the crow family.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

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