Comment by seanw444 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by seanw444 | Hacker News Reader

There was one that must've set up a nest somewhere near my parking spot at my apartment towards the end of summer. Every time I came home, it would be running around looking for things in the flowerbed nearby, and then come over to me and follow my feet/shoes, and then do soft nips. It was interesting though, because it's like it knew not to peck my ankles (that were covered by my socks) as hard as it did my shoes. Playful in a way.

It would stand on my shoe, and I'd lift it up. It'd bite onto the side of my shoe, and I'd play tug of war with it.

At one point I was diagnosing a car battery issue, and when I had the hood popped, it got territorial over my car. I kept trying to lead it away by enticing it with something distracting a little ways away from the car, and then running back to check my battery. But it would return.

A couple times, I pulled out of my spot to head to work in the morning, and it'd ride on top of my car for a few seconds before I started driving too fast.

They're such interesting birds. I kinda miss that one.

(I volunteer at a raptor conservation Trust).

Many birds will play with objects in their aviaries to varying degrees. Vultures (Hooded and Egyptian) will pull on shoe laces. Owls and Kites will fly off with a sponge if you take your eyes off it while cleaning their aviary. Caracaras are about as safe to have around as a raccoon. Many birds will look inside a bucket or try to pull it over.

These birds vary a lot in their intelligence, as indicated by their ability to solve problems to access food.

what might you think of trading posts?

e.g use a visual cue, such as a dollar bill, coupled with food reward. attempt to cargo cult the birds, into replicating conditions associated with reward. to the end, birds will find the cue [$] and bring it to the trade post /vending machine.

the bird doesnt need to "know" any material value, other than; a particular item, at a particular place, allows food discovery

There was the guy who trained his local magpies to collect discarded bottle caps... https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/magpies-traine...

Not many dollar bills in aviaries, unfortunately. We already have to watch out for the free-flying birds diving into the crowd during a display to steal sandwiches, sausage rolls, etc. Probably best not to train them to go for wallets

On the subject of Caracaras, want to plug “A Most Remarkable Creature (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/251787/a-most-remar... ) by Jonathan Meiburg, lead singer of Shearwater

> Caracaras are about as safe to have around as a raccoon.

that doesn't sound very safe. Raccoons look like friendly rascally creatures but I think they can do some damage.

KineticLensman's writing is a little unclear there, but I think that was the intent--birds are tricky, and Caracaras are just as tricky as raccoons, i.e. not safe.

As the owner of a couple parrots, I can concur. Even parrots, who are supposed to be relatively tame still get into all sorts of trouble, are quite loud and will bite for no apparent reason (sometimes to hurt, other times to just show affection).

I love my birds, but they're definitely not the pet for everyone. I'd encourage anyone thinking of adopting one to volunteer at a rescue first to get a better idea of whether they're the right pet for your lifestyle.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com